


to come home to you - 7th grade

by queennmab



Series: to get to heaven [1]
Category: bare: A Pop Opera - Hartmere/Intrabartolo
Genre: 7th grade, Gen, Tags to be added, i have minimal understanding about the american school system and boarding school, their first year at st cecilia's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-08-14 17:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8022331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queennmab/pseuds/queennmab
Summary: "Remember back in 7th grade... when we were all just friends" 7th Grade at St Cecilia's





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fandom was lacking multi-chapter works so i decided to write a series following the bare children from their first year together to their last. 
> 
> This is their first year together

1:1 _we sent him to a catholic boarding school_

**Peter**

“Peter, I hope your bags are packed, we’re leaving in half an hour!” Mrs Simmonds voice echoed throughout the house. It was the worried, frazzled voice of a mother who was seeing her only son off to boarding school for the first time. It was the right thing to do, she knew that, but there was a part of her that couldn’t bear the thought of being alone, of Peter being alone. 

“Yeah, mum, I’m nearly done.” Peter yelled back, “give me two seconds.” 

Peter sat on his bed, socks in hand. he needed more than two seconds. He wasn’t ready, despite what he’d been telling himself, and his mum, for the past two weeks. He wasn’t ready for boarding school, he wasn’t ready to leave his mum, his home, his town. It was all he knew. He knew every street, he knew where he could, who he could talk to in school, who his friends were. He didn’t know his new school; he didn’t know where he’d fit in there. He didn’t know if he wanted to go. No. He knew he didn’t want to go. His mum had made the decision for him. She kept saying it was the best thing for him, and would help him grow into a decent young man. It would offer him things and teach him things that she, as a single mother, she was always reminding Peter of that, couldn’t teach him. He wasn’t sure what exactly those things were, as far as Peter was concerned his mum was doing a pretty decent job of raising him so far. But, like always, he listened to her, and agreed to go, knowing it would make her happy. 

“Peter! If you’re not out here with your suitcase in ten I won’t be very happy!” 

Sighing, Peter finished packing the last of his socks, undies and grabbed his pillow just in case the ones at school were too hard. He didn’t care what the place was like, he wasn’t spending an entire year waking up with a sore neck each morning.

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

With one final look around his room, taking in his bed, his recently emptied fish tank, and his Top Gun posters, he closed his bedroom and was ready for whatever St Cecilia’s had to teach him.

 

**Jason and Nadia**

“Knock, knock little bro, are you ready to uphold the family honour and take your place in St Cecilia’s hall of fame?” Nadia McConnell made her way into her brother’s room, which had piles of clothes, newly brought school books and basketball shoes scattered all over it. 

“Not your little bro.” Jason spat back. “Also have you seen my maths book, I can’t find it anywhere.” 

“Yeah, I can see you’ve torn the place apart tryna find it,” Nadia said, trying to make her way through the landmine of a room, “but, sadly, no. I haven’t seen your maths book.” 

“Shit.”

“Whoa, language little bro.” Nadia smirked, “It’ll turn up.” 

From the vantage point of Jason’s bed, she could see the mess her brother had made trying to find the text book. His suitcase was flung wide open, socks, shirts, a school blazer were all falling out of it. Desks draws had been opened in a haste, and not closed again, and his desk itself was more just a dumping ground of miscellaneous items than a functioning work space. Nadia had never seen her twin brothers room in such a state before, and if she was honest, she didn’t blame him. Everyone was nervous and frazzled that morning, first days of school tended to do that to set everyone on edge.

“Hey, Jason.” Her brother, who had been continuing the destruction of his room, turned to her.

“What?” 

“It’s going to be ok, yeah?” She smiled, “This whole boarding school thing. You’ll fit right in, even if you don’t have a maths book.” 

“No, I know. It’ll be fine.” Jason reassured himself, “I’d just feel a lot better if I found this book.” 

“I’ll help you look.” 

Nadia knew she was right and Jason would fit right in. He always had. At elementary school, at family dinner parties, in his various sports teams. Even at the age of twelve Jason seemed to know how to work a room, how to please family friends, teachers, their parents. Sometimes she felt that all he spent his life doing. Nadia wasn’t as lucky, nor as good. No matter what she did, how much she tried to loose weight, bite her tongue, be respectful and a ‘team player’, she never lived up to her parent’s expectations. She felt too big, too much, too intense, to much of everything all the time. She’d quickly learnt to sink into the background, to let Jason take the centre stage, taking the attention away from her. She became the other McConnell twin, the one always mentioned second as an after thought, if at all.

As she looked for Jason’s maths book, she thought about how St Cecilia’s was a chance for her to get away. To have some freedom, to not be always under the watchful eyes of her parents. She was going to stop being the ‘Other McConnell twin’ and to start being Nadia McConnell. And maybe she didn’t know who exactly that was yet, but she was going to figure it out. 

“Got it!” Jason yelled from under his bed. 

“Finally,” Nadia got up from looking under Jason’s desk, “why was it under there anyway?” 

Jason shrugged, packing it, the rest of his books, and the fallen out clothes into his suitcase, before closing it up. “You good to go then?” He turned to his twin sister. 

“Aren’t you going to tidy up all of,” Nadia waved her arms around the room, “this mess.” 

Confusion crept onto Jason’s face, “Why? It’s not as if I’m gonna be in here for months.” 

“Whatever,” Nadia turned, walking out of the room, “it’s not my problem. I’ll see you in the car.” 

 

**Ivy**

“Mum, we have to leave soon, or I’m going to be late for orientation.” Ivy told her mother, trying to be as quiet as possible. 

“I know love, I just need to finish this, then we can leave.” The soup Ivy’s mother was tending to was bubbling away, and as far as Ivy could tell finished. 

“But isn’t it done?” Ivy questioned, “It looks done.” 

“Just give me five more minutes,” her mum pleaded, “then we’ll go. I promise.” 

“Ok, ok.” Ivy gave in, “I’m waiting outside.” 

Ivy left her mum in the kitchen, making her way outside onto the patio. At least it was sunny, Ivy thought. She hoped it was sunny at St Cecilia’s too. She loved the sun, the warmth it offered, the way it made her hair turn slightly burgundy in the summer. For her the sun was peace, calmness, safety. 

Mrs Robinson’s quiet humming reached Ivy’s ears, smiling, she thought about how much she’d miss this; Her patio, her mum’s pumpkin soup, the stolen moments her and her mum shared in which they’d sit and watch the sunset, before her dad would get home, before the moon came out, and Ivy would be afraid again. She tried to push all thoughts of her mum aside, not wanting to dredge up the feelings of guilt she had around leaving. As if she hadn’t spent many sleepless nights believing she was the worst possible daughter for running off on her mum. 

She was so excited to leave, to get away and go to St Cecilia’s. She’d been obsessed with the idea of boarding school ever since Martha Fitzgerald had mentioned it in 4th grade. The idea of getting to live at school with your friends, of not having to go home for months on end. Martha had described at as being like a massive year long sleepover, and ten-year-old Ivy loved that idea. Twelve-year-old Ivy wasn’t so sure about it now. She still wanted to go, of course she did, her mum had worked so hard to get make sure she could, and had given up a good part of the money Ivy’s Grandma had left them, to ensure Ivy went. But the idea of leaving her mum, of not being there for her, of being unable to look after her from St Cecilia’s was terrifying to her. With the sun bearing down on her, Ivy sat with her thoughts, her worries, her excitement, her prayers that her mother would be okay and survive whilst she was away. She had to believe her prayers would be enough.

“Ready love?” Her mum smiled at her from the doorway.

“Yeah, let me just grab my stuff.” Ivy quickly raced inside, making sure not to make too much noise, returning a few minutes later with a suitcase in toll, and packing it into the trunk of the car.

 

**Peter**

“Remember you can call whenever you need to.” Peter’s mum reminded her son for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. 

“Yeah, mum, ok.” Peter replied, distracted by the building that loomed in front of him. He knew St Cecilia’s was old, he’d read all the brochures, he just didn’t realise it was so big as well. 

“And don’t be afraid to ask for help, there’s no shame in not knowing where to go, or what to do.” His mum continued, seemingly unfazed by the magnitude of her son’s new school. “Now let’s find your dorm room, you have to be at orientation in thirty minutes and it’d be good to get unpacked before I have to leave.” 

“Uh huh, sounds good.” 

“Peter, are you even paying attention?” 

“Yes.” Shaking of his shock at the scale of the Church in front of him. “We need to find my room.” Peter grabbed the map from his mum’s hand, “Room 1.15, in the Junior Wing, right?” 

His mum nodded, following his son and he directed her across the immaculate gardens and into a large, long brick building towards the back of the grounds. His mum spending the entire walk nattering on about the size of the grounds, how it seemed silly to put the younger kids at the very back of the campus, how she hoped Peter’s roommate would be nice. Peter didn’t pay her much attention, simply nodding when needed, choosing to take in the grounds that were to be his second home. 

The campus was aggressively huge. Tall, brick buildings erupted out the ground, with the Chapel as the main attraction, front and centre of the campus. The buildings themselves were positioned so they all faced the chapel, with a gymnasium and athletics track off to the east of the grounds. 

“Well, I think this is my room.” Peter and his mum stood outside a wooden door with 1.15 on it. Peter couldn’t bring himself to turn the doorknob. Once he opened it that was it, no turning back, no running back to Massachusetts and his room at home. 

“You should probably open it then.” His mum nudged him, “No use standing outside all day.” 

Peter nodded, taking a gulp. His throat had gone all dry, his palms were sweating like crazy. He had told himself it didn’t matter what his roommate was like. It’s not as if he had to be best-friends with them, so if he was horrible it didn’t really matter. Peter hoped he would be nice at least, and respected Peter’s space, but if they didn’t get on it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Peter reminded himself of this as he opened the door to his new room, his mum following close behind. 

 

**Nadia**

Nadia had been left with her mum in her dorm room, whilst her dad had gone to settle Jason into his room. It wasn’t Nadia’s idea of an ideal situation. She hated being alone with her mum, especially without Jason there to lessen any blows that came Nadia’s away. But at least she wouldn’t have to see her or her dad for a good four months. 

“Now, remember to only have a plate at dinner. We’ve been working hard on portion control, and I’d hate to see all the good work we’ve done go down the drain.” Mrs McConnell rattled on, as she unpacked the contents of Nadia’s suitcase. 

“I know,” Nadia sighed, “You’ve already told me this. Also, I can unpack my own suitcase.” 

“You won’t put everything away properly,” Mrs McConnell swatted her daughter’s hands away, “besides, it’s the last thing I’ll get to do for you for months. Let me do it.” 

Nadia decided not to argue, she could never win with her mother anyway. 

 

**Ivy**

“I wish I could help you unpack, but the traffic back is going to be horrible.” Ivy’s mum told her, “and I need to be back before it gets dark.” 

“it’s fine.” Ivy wasn’t going to make her mum feel any worse than Ivy knew she already was. “Besides, I’ve got to learn to be independent. That’s what boarding school is all about, right?”

Her and her mum sat in their car, with nothing but the radio filling the silence, neither of them wanting to say goodbye. She looked out of the car window, parents and students were milling about, older kids rushing up and greeting their friends after months apart. Ivy could see the chapel in the middle of the campus, it’s tall stained glass windows seeming to loom over everyone and everything, as if God was watching. That thought simultaneously scared and comforted her. She wasn’t overly religious, her mum would take her to church for Christmas and Easter, but her home had no sign of religion in it. Unlike her grandmother’s, which had pictures of the Virgin Mary in the bathroom, and statues of Jesus scattered around the house. She missed visiting her grandmother, missed having to say Grace before each meal, and finding Baby Jesus in random cupboards or being used as a doorstop. 

“You should probably go and find your dorm room.” Her mum’s soft voice filled the silent car. 

“Yeah, I should.” Ivy looked over at her mum, making sure to soak in all the features of the older woman’s face. 

Her mum smiled her warm smile, “Go on, you’ll be fine.” 

 

**Jason**

Jason’s roommate hadn’t arrived it, which suited him just fine. It meant he got to choose what side of the room he wanted, and he could unpack in peace. Though it did mean that he spent a good half an hour freaking out about what his roommate would be like. His dad had told him that whilst he was at St Cecilia’s his roommate was his best-friend, _"someone I could always count on. Always had my back, he did."_ Jason didn’t expect to be best-friends with the guy, but he did hope they would get on at least. 

“I don’t know how you want to sort your clothes, son.” Mr McConnell said, his head in Jason and his room mates closet, “But I don’t think there’s an awful lot of room for them.”

“It’ll be fine. I’ll sort it out later.” Jason responded, wondering how Nadia was getting on with their mum. At least Nadia would have all her unpacking done for her.

Jason sat on his bed, the springs digging into his legs (he wasn’t looking forward to having to spend a whole year sleeping on it), watching as his dad rummaged through his dorm room complaining about the size of the desk, Jason having to share a closet with his roommate, the small windows, and anything else he could find that didn’t meet his incredibly high standards. Jason just wanted his dad to leave, wanted to be able to breathe again. The past summer had been stifling for Jason, his parents had been always hovering around, his dad constantly reminding him he needed to practice for baseball _“especially if you want to make the team at St Cecelia’s”_ , (Jason wasn’t sure he did), his mum nagging him about the length of his hair (it was just hair), and both of them telling him about how much he’s going to love boarding school. 

“Know when your roommate is getting here?” his dad asked. 

“Why would I know that?” Jason rolled his eyes, “I don’t even know his name.”

Jason didn’t have to wait that much longer to find it out though. He was making his bed when the door opened and a skinny blond boy walked him, his mum following close behind. 

“Ummm, hi, I’m Peter.” The boy, Peter, said his hand outstretched, visibly shaking. 

“Jason McConnell,” Jason grabbed Peter's hand, not minding it was sweaty in the slightest, “Nice to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come and talk to me about my children on [tumblr](http://queennmab.tumblr.com/)  
> Also this is my first fic for any fandom so feedback is highly welcomed xx


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First week = auditions, tryouts and making friends

1:2 _you haven’t played since we were twelve_

**Peter**

Peter liked to think that his first week at St Cecilia’s went smoothly, that he was settling in well and making plenty of friends. He may not be getting on with all of his teachers, geography was going to be a struggle this year he knew, but he was making some friends and getting on well with his roommate, and only got lost three, which he thought was a success in itself. His roommate, Jason, was nice and they got along well more or less, but Peter wasn’t always unsure how to act around him. Jason was taller than him, louder than him, more certain of himself and the space he took up in the world than Peter thought he ever could be. They’d sat together in classes and at meals for the first few days, but Jason started hanging out with boys who were also going up for the Junior Baseball team. And Peter had no interest in trying out for Baseball. He had played soccer for a few years as kid, but even then he wasn’t sure a bunch of six to eight year olds running around a field trying to kick a ball could really be classified as sport. 

Despite Jason hanging out with the baseball kids, the perks of boarding school meant that you were never entirely alone, and he’d also made friends with Matt, who he sat next to in a few of his classes and lived just across from him and Jason. He had only seen Matt’s roommate a few times, but the boy, Lucas, always seemed to be darting off somewhere or engrossed in some video game. Matt was a lot more studious than Peter, and spent most of his time either studying in the library or up in his room. But, he helped Peter out with his homework, and was really nice, so Peter didn’t mind that he found himself in the library on his first Friday night away from home. 

“Hey, Matt, yaknow how Mr Carroway was talking about the possibility of us one day inhabiting another planet?” 

Matt, deeply focused on his math book barely responded, “Hmmm, yeah.”

“Well, do you reckon that like, when we do, what are the chances of their being life on that planet?” Peter asked, thinking back to their science class that day, and their teacher showing them a picture of the universe as he spoke about the physics that went into holding it together. All Peter had really remembered from the lesson was Mr Carroway mentioning how one day humans may have the technology to inhabit another planet. 

“Ummm, I don’t know.” Matt had looked up from his math book now, “Probably pretty rare, I mean no other planet in our solar system has life on it.”

“Mars might.” 

“Right, but we don’t know for certain yet. So, the odds that other planets have life on it are pretty rare. Or at least the odds that we would be able to inhabit one that holds life is pretty rare.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

Matt turned back to his math, bored by the topic already, “anyway, I need to finish these worksheets.” 

“But, it’s a Friday,” Peter replied, shocked that his friend would even be wanting to do work on a Friday, “Do it later.” 

“I’m busy over the weekend.” Matt didn’t look up from the problem he was working on. 

“Doing what?” Peter had no plans over the weekend, except watching the baseball tryouts because Jason had mentioned being nervous about them the other day and Peter had promised he’d go and cheer him on. So he really couldn’t imagine what Matt could be doing, seeing as he wasn’t interested in trying out for any sports teams, at least none that Peter was aware of.

“Just stuff,” Matt mumbled, hiding his face in his text books. 

“Stuff?” Peter asked, “just stuff. Why don’t you want to tell me?” 

Matt shrugged, “it’s not important.” 

“What if I want to do it too?” Peter crossed his arms, giving Matt a challenging look. He couldn’t think of anything Matt could be doing that he wouldn’t want to share. 

“Ok, fine,” giving in, Matt faced the other boy, “I’m auditioning for the school play.” 

Peter’s face lit up, “You are!” Breaking out into a massive grin that showed off his crooked teeth. “That’s amazing!”

“Really?” Matt asked. He hadn’t expected his new friend to be so fine with him auditioning for the school play. Acting wasn’t exactly the coolest thing for a guy to do.

“Yeah, it’s awesome!” Peter exclaimed, jumping up out of his seat, his excitement getting the better of him, “Do you think I could audition?” Peter had dreamed about getting to be in a school play ever since he saw his local high school’s performance of Fiddler On the Roof. He had gone with his friend Dustin, who’s sister was in it, and he couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks after. He begged his mum to let him go to the local drama school, but never had any success, it was _‘too expensive’_ , or _‘took up too much time,’_ or _‘not something he should be doing.’_

Matt shrugged, turning back to his math homework once more, “Maybe, you had to sign up by lunch today though, so you might not be able to.” 

“Oh.”

“But you should come with me anyway. They might let you audition.” Matt scrambled around in his bag, pulling out a bunch of paper and handing it to Peter, “This is what we need to audition with, you can read over it if you want to.”

Peter smiled, feeling like he might actually be making progress. He hadn’t gotten cast in the play yet, but at least he’d made a friend that was nice, smart and didn’t think acting was silly or girly.

“Cool,” and with that the two boys fell back into silence. Matt working away at his maths homework and Peter studying his lines. 

 

**Nadia**

Nadia had been terrified that she wouldn’t get on with her roommate, and that she wouldn’t make any friends or like any of her teachers. And, ok, whilst she may not like all her teachers, at least her and her roommate, Ivy had become good friends. Nadia and Ivy didn’t find it difficult to settle into living with one another. Ivy was nice, a little quiet at times, and she had the habit of needing to sleep with the window open, which had annoyed Nadia for the first few nights. But from the moment Ivy had put up a Wicked poster Nadia knew she’d be a good roommate and hopefully a good friend. She wasn’t wrong. The two had an easy chemistry and easily bonded over, mainly over their love of musicals, particularly Wicked -Ivy didn’t want to admit it, but she was secretly very jealous that Nadia had seen it on a trip to New York. Nadia had given her a blow by blow account of the scenes, the costumes and the setting, with the promise of bringing Ivy her signed program after Thanksgiving.

Nadia was definitely surprised that Ivy was so happy to be her friend. Not because Nadia was a horrible person, but because, to Nadia, Ivy didn’t even seem like a real girl. She was so intact, so well put together, so pretty and present. Things Nadia thought were reserved for grown women, women like her mother. Nadia never thought someone who so happily befriended her would possess qualities that Nadia could only dream of acquiring. 

“Hey, Nadia,” Ivy walked into their room, dumping her bag on her bed, and made her way over to Nadia, who had been struggling her way through their assigned English book. 

“Hey, did you speak to Sister Chantelle?” Nadia asked, putting her book aside and making room on her bed for Ivy.

“Yeah, she said that everyone who auditions will be in the show, and it’s likely that the seniors will get the leads.” Ivy stated, being careful to recall everything she’d been told. 

“Man, that’s the worst.” Nadia exclaimed, “I hate when the older kids get the roles over us, especially when they’re not any good.” 

Ivy shrugged, “I mean, it’s fair. It is their last show and everything.” 

“Still, we’re probably going to be better than them anyway,” Nadia grumbled, “but we’ll be stuck in the chorus.” 

“At least we’ll be stuck in the chorus together.” Ivy hugged her arms around the other girl, “That’s gotta count for something.” 

Leaning into the one armed hugged her new friend was offering, Nadia conceded defeat, “I guess.”

Nadia placed her head on Ivy’s shoulders, as Ivy pulled her in tighter, both girls sharing each others warmth and comfort. Nadia couldn’t remember feeling this safe with anyone else but her brother, couldn’t remember being so candidly herself, and so comfortable in being herself around anyone else before. If friendship was Ivy’s soft breath on the top of her head, and her arms around her shoulders, both of them happily cocooned in their little shared space on the Earth, then she thought she could get use to it. 

 

**Jason**

Jason wanted to say he was confident about baseball try outs but the truth was he lied when Lucas had asked him that morning over breakfast. He wasn’t confident, and he definitely wasn’t the star baseball player he had made himself out to be, sure he could put bat to ball and wasn’t a bad pitcher, but he had seen some of the 8th and 9th graders out on the pitch Tuesday morning and knew he wasn’t at their level. But all he had to do was make the team, then he could work on being the best later.

Nobody else but Peter knew about his apprehension and nerves towards the tryouts. He’d stupidly voiced them to him the one evening that neither of them had much homework. They’d been getting to know each other, talking about their families and what they were into. Jason was a little surprised at Peter confessing he liked cooking, but he had, what Jason thought was a solid reason for it, _“It’s fun, and you get to eat the food you make, what’s not to like?”._

Peter was easy to talk to. Jason didn’t feel the need to censor himself, to make himself bigger, or bolder, or louder than he actually was around him. Not once since meeting Peter did he feel the need to size him up, to compete with him. He just wanted to talk to him, to listen to him, to try to make sense of the quiet boy he had been roomed with. 

The two roommates hadn’t seen much of each other the past few days, Jason had been hanging out with other guys trying out for baseball, and Peter had been spending a lot of time Matt. Jason didn’t know Matt, but he was always answering questions in class and seemed pretty nice. 

The math worksheet sitting on Jason’s desk had been left unattended in favour of his The Flash comics. He had tried to take as many of them as possible, but had to sacrifice a whole bunch of his Silver Age ones because they wouldn’t all fit. He’d attempted to smuggle them into Nadia’s suitcase, but the fight that followed her discovery of them quickly ended that. 

The door swung open with a great force, jolting Jason out of his reading as Peter came bounding into their room, a huge grin on his face. 

“What are you so happy about?” Jason asked, curious to know what had gotten his roommate in such a happy mood. 

Peter shrugged, throwing his bag down onto the floor and collapsing onto his bed with a heavy thud, feeling the springs digging into his back. 

“I was in the library with Matt,” Peter started, “cause that’s basically the only place he knows exists. And he was telling about how he’s auditioning for the school play tomorrow!” 

“Right, and that’s made you happy because?” Jason was still unsure why Peter was so excitable. 

“I’m going to audition with them!” Peter yelled, his hands stretched out in front of his face, reaching towards the ceiling. 

Jason laughed, Peter’s hands falling back by his side as he sat up, turning to face Jason. 

“Why’d you laugh?” Peter’s voice dripping with anger. 

“I just never thought you’d be into acting that’s all.” Attempting to keep his voice casual Jason met Peter’s cross eyes. 

“Because I’m a guy and guys can’t be into acting?” 

A laugh escaped Jason’s lips for a second time, “No, don’t be silly. If some guy wants to act I guess he can act.” 

“Right, so why the laugh?” 

Jason sighed, “I don’t know. I just never picked you as an actor, you’re just so quiet and everything.” 

“Maybe I can only talk under the intense heat of the stage lights.” Peter responded with a grin. 

“Is that why you have to open the curtains first thing in the morning?” Jason joked back, “You’re like a reverse vampire, if you don’t have light constantly shining on you you shrivel up?” 

It was Peter’s turn to laugh, a deep belly laugh that slowly spread throughout his entire body. Jason’s laughter closely joined Peter’s, both of their happiness filling the room. Glancing at Peter, noticing for the first time the freckles dotted across his face, he let himself get lost in the blond boy’s face. From the moment Peter had walked into their dorm on the first day Jason had assumed he was made of sunshine. He’d never thought before that a boy could be beautiful, but, if Jason was asked to describe Peter, it’s one of the first words he’d write. He shook himself out of that thought, focusing on getting his breathing back under control. Both of their laughter finally subsided, as the two boys settled down onto their beds, Peter nursing a stitch and Jason thanking God for blessing him with a boy made of gold. 

 

**Ivy**

“Quick, run me through my lines again.” Ivy shoved her script under Nadia’s nose. The other girl was staring up at the stage, the older kids assembled on it, each of them practicing their audition pieces.

Nadia pushed the pages aside, “You already know them.” 

“But what if I forget?”

Nadia rolled her eyes before turning to Ivy and flashing her a smile, “You won’t. Trust me, you’re gonna do great.”

“Can I blame you if I don’t?” Ivy raised her eyebrows, challenging Nadia. 

“If It makes you feel better,” Nadia agreed, “But you won’t need to blame anymore, because you’re gonna do great.”

“Ok kids, I wanna make this as quick and as pain free for me as possible,” the drama teacher, Sister Chantelle, walked into the room and ascended the stage. “So, I want all the juniors up on stage, I’m going to hear you all sing and then have you go through the audition piece. The rest of you,” she motioned to the seniors, “you can either stay and watch or come back this afternoon.” 

Most of the seniors milled out of the auditorium, a few hanging back, making themselves comfortable in the back few rows. 

“Alright, the rest of you get up on stage.”

Ivy dragged Nadia up on stage, unable to contain her excitement, and went to stand next to Peter and Matt. Ivy didn’t know either of them well, but she had set next to Peter in history on the first day and knew he roomed with Jason, who she’d met a few times. Matt she had gotten to know a little better. He’d stumbled his way through their first conversation together, but he seemed nice, he was always answering stuff in class anyway and seemed to be a bit of a maths whiz. 

“Ok, I know A Midsummer’s Nights Dream is a comedy but if you can stop clowning around I’d appreciate it.” Sister Chantelle yelled out, trying to calm the rowdiness that had been developing on stage.

“Right, shall I see if any of you can sing then?” Sister asked, after the babble had finally settled down and the twelve to fourteen year olds formed some sort of order. Sister Chantelle instructed them to start and they broke into song, and in that moment Ivy was thankful she was standing next to Nadia who could hold a decent tune. 

_Over hill, over dale,_  
_Thorough bush, thorough brier,_  
_Over park, over pale_ ,  
_Thorough flood, thorough fire,_  
_I do wander everywhere,_

As everyone recited the lyrics of the fairies to various degrees of success Ivy allowed herself to look around and the other kids she was sharing a stage with. She found out from an older student that Sister Chantelle alternates between doing a Shakespearean production and an actual musical each year, and every second year interest always dropped significantly. Turns out putting music and dance to Shakespeare isn’t as exciting as doing Hairspray or Mamma Mia or any other musical, at least not for teenagers, as the twenty odd students she was currently singing with proved. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” Sister Chantelle cut off the singing, “I’m going to see if half of you can act better than you can sing.” 

One by one the younger kids did their monologue, most stumbling, not able to wrap their tongues around the language. A couple did surprisingly well. Ivy wasn’t surprised when Matt got up and recited his lines perfectly, if a little stiff – She wasn’t sure why he chose a Puck monologue to do. Peter did surprise Ivy, the seemingly quiet boy looked at complete ease up on stage, although he did rush out as soon as he was done – whether it was to vomit up his nerves or because he had somewhere more important to be Ivy didn’t know. Nadia went just before Ivy and absolutely smashed it, the girl was hilarious as Titania. 

“How’d I go?” Nadia asked, bouncing over to where Ivy was sitting. 

“You were amazing!” Ivy smiled up at the girl, “You were so funny.” 

Nadia grinned, apparently please that her new friend liked it, “Thanks.” 

“Ivy Robinson.” Sister Chantelle called, “You’re up.” 

“Good luck.” Ivy felt Nadia squeeze her hand and she went to get up on stage. 

Ivy smiled back at Nadia, glad to have her friend’s support. 

Ivy doesn’t remember much of her monologue. She remembers the sweet smile Sister Chantelle gave her right before she started, she remembers not stuffing up her lines, and the small clap that had followed everyone’s audition once she’d finished. She definitely remembers the hug Nadia encased her in after she’d walked off stage, and the smile that was etched onto her face. 

 

**Peter**

Auditions went well, he thinks. He didn’t realise they would take so long though. Baseball try-outs started at noon, and he had promised Jason he would be there. He thought he would be ok when Sister Chantelle had the juniors go first, but it was getting close to twelve and Peter still hadn’t run through his monologue yet. He tried begging with Sister to go first, but she wouldn’t budge, _“what’s the point of having a schedule if it’s not going to be kept?”_

As soon as he had done his monologue, stumbling on a few lines but overall doing ok – not that it mattered much anyway, Sister Chantelle said everyone would get to be in the chorus at least – he rushed out of the auditorium, his bag flung over his shoulder. 

He wasn’t going to miss Jason’s baseball tryouts; he had promise him he’d make it to them. 

_“Are you still going to come to baseball tryouts?” Jason had asked Peter after he told him about auditioning with Matt, “I mean, it’s totally fine if you can’t make, what with auditions and all, but it’d be kinda nice if you could come, but like I said if you can’t it’s totally fi- “_

_“I’m still gonna come,” Peter cut Jason off, “hopefully auditions won’t run too late.”_

_Jason sat up, smiling at Peter, “Really?”_

_Peter laughed softly, “Of course, I promised you didn’t I?”_

_“Yeah, I guess you did promise,” Jason laid back on his bed, starring up at the ceiling, "thanks."_

_“You’re welcome.”_

Remembering the conversation Peter sped up. Jason had sounded so happy when he’d told him he was still going to go, and there was no way Peter wanted to be responsible for taking away that happiness. They’d only known each for a week and had already settled into a comfortable friendship. They didn’t always associate with the same people during the day and in class, but Peter didn’t mind, he imagined they’d get sick of each other if they had to be together during the day too. 

He made he way out onto the grounds, heading straight to the field and adjacent baseball pitch. Peter was still a little in shock that they had a baseball pitch as well as a field and a recreation centre - how many sporting fields do you need? - at his old school all they had was an oval and basketball court. 

Finally arriving he quickly scanned the pitch for Jason, before spotting him on the other side, warming up with a bunch of guys. Knowing that any attempts to get his attention would be futile, and probably embarrassing for both of them, Peter took his place on one of the benches just outside the nets. A few other students had also gathered to support their friends, or to just kill time and escape doing homework. Peter didn’t understand baseball all that well, his mum wasn’t into sport in anyway, and whenever he spent weekends with his dad they tended to watch the football, well his dad watched it, Peter pretended – never fully understanding what exactly he was watching. It wasn’t that he hated football or any sport that much, he just wasn’t brought up around it, much to the regret and disappointment of his dad, and his mothers best efforts to get him involved in sport proved futile. 

“Hey Peter,” A voice from behind pulled Peter out of his thoughts. 

He turned his head to find Nadia making herself comfortable next to him, “Hey Nadia, here to watch your brother?” 

“Yeah, not that he bothered to come and watch my audition.” 

“Ok, but would you have really wanted him to?” Peter asked, smiling at the thought of Jason anywhere near the theatre. 

“Yeah you’re right, probably not.” 

“You did really well though,” Peter said, “at the audition, I mean.” 

“Thanks,” Nadia beamed, “you were pretty good too.”

“I screwed up a little, but it was ok.” Peter shrugged, looking out at Jason and the others who were standing in a huddle, being addressed by the coach. “I think they’re about to start.” 

“Hmm?”

Peter nodded towards the pitch, “tryouts, I think they’re starting.” 

“ohhh, cool. Do you think he’ll be annoyed if I screamed out ‘good luck’?”

“Probably yeah.” 

Nadia nodded before getting to her feet, “GOOD LUCK JASON!” 

Nadia broke out into laughter as Jason snapped his head around, searching for the source, before finally noticing the two of them, a look of annoyance plastered across his face. 

“He’s gonna hate you for that.” 

Nadia shrugged, “he already hates me, it’s no big deal.” 

Nadia sat down once more, and the two feel into a causal silence as they watched as the tryouts. Occasionally exchanging a few snippets of conversation here and there. Nadia, like Jason, was easy to talk to. She was a more sarcastic, and Peter got the sense that he was only getting a fraction of who she really was, but he could see the similarities between the two, and could definitely get used to talking to her a lot more. Jason went up to pitch and the two held their breaths, only releasing once he’d manage to throw three decent throws. 

‘Do you think he’ll get in?” Nadia whispered to him after Jason had managed to hit two balls, and get to second base. 

“I hope so,” Peter responded, “but I don’t really get baseball so I’m not sure if what he’s doing is good.” 

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t get baseball’?” Nadia questioned. 

Peter shrugged, “I mean, I’ve never really watched it, so I don’t quite understand it.” 

“Right.” 

“But I’m sure he’ll make the team.” Peter reassured her, bumping her shoulder. 

The tryout match had finished, and the twenty odd boys were gathered together, waiting for the coach to announce the team list. Peter could see Jason standing next to two slightly older boys, looking like he very much belonged there. There was a large part of Peter that hoped Jason made the team, he wasn’t sure why exactly it was so important to him, but his nervousness and fretting over it suggested it meant a lot to him. But, and Peter hated to admit it, there was a small part of him that hoped he didn’t make it. He looked so comfortable with the other boys, so sure of his place with them, that Peter was worried him becoming close with the team would ruin any chance of friendship the two had of forming. 

“Hey, has the team been announced yet?” Ivy joined Nadia and Peter on the benches. 

“Nope,” Nadia shook her head, “did you get your math homework done?” 

“Yeah, I did.” 

The crowd of boys on the pitch finally dispersed and Jason came bounding over to them, a massive grin on his face. 

“I made the team!” Jason wrapped Peter into a one armed hugged, before letting go quickly.

“That’s awesome!” 

“See, you didn’t need to be nervous.” 

“Well done, little bro.” 

“Not your little bro, but thanks!” Jason said, poking Nadia in the side as he did. “I have to go tell dad.” 

“He’ll be thrilled.” 

“Yeah, he will.” Jason turned back to Peter, “Wanna come with me to get my gym bag?” 

Peter looked up at Jason, nodding, “sure.” 

“Awesome.” Jason responded, before turning his attention back to the girls again, “I guess we’ll see you guys later.” 

“Sure.” Nadia nodded, “and if you’re calling dad, just, say I’m doing fine.” 

“Gotcha, and thanks for coming to watch.” 

Watching Nadia and Ivy walk off, Jason ruffled his hand through his hair, sighing deeply, “man, I’m glad I got in.” 

“You did well.” Peter told him, also looking out as the two girls made their way across the grounds, their heads both ducked, seemingly in intense conversation. 

“Hey, thanks for coming,” Jason turned to face him, “like, I really appreciate it.” 

“I’m not one to break a promise,” Peter shrugged. 

“I guess you’re not,” Jason beamed. “Anyway, let me get my stuff, then you can tell me about the audition.” 

Jason took off towards the change rooms, his bright smile seeming to be permanently stuck on his face. The idea that Peter had helped put it there even a little bit reassured him, as he rushed to keep up with Jason, whose excitement was still pouring out of him. 

“So, explain baseball to me, because I don’t quite understand it.” 

Jason laughed, quickly plunging into a passionate spill about bases, and pitches, telling Peter about when he’ll be training and about the other boys on his team. As Jason spoke Peter realised, for the first time that week, that he had the opportunity to be truly happy at St Cecilia’s, all because that boy wanted him to be there with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu @queennmab on tumblr


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> school dances and Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for some super mild homophobic comments, its just 12 year old boys being 12 year old boys, but thought id mention it just incase. 
> 
> also a) i have no knowledge about halloween and b) my memory of junior school discos is pretty bad, so apologies if both are really inaccurate

_1:3 when we were all just friends_

__

 

**Ivy**

It was the middle of October, and the leaves had started to fall, crunching under foot, and twirling around legs in the breeze. Ivy couldn’t have been happier with the change in weather. Fall was her favourite season, her mum always made the best food during fall, the weather was never too cold or too hot, it was Halloween, and Ivy loved having an excuse to dress up. Fall also meant thanksgiving and thanksgiving meant she’d be able to see her mum again. She hadn’t been homesick exactly; not in the way that she missed her bed, or her couch or her friends. But she’d missed her mum. And some days she didn’t miss her home nor her bed, or even her mum, and it was those days when she realised she hadn’t missed them that she felt the guiltiest. 

“So, Halloween?” Nadia asked from her bed where she was reading. 

“Yeah?” Ivy was at the desk drawing a series of character designs for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

“What are we wearing for the dance?” 

The school put on a dance for the juniors during the Halloween weekend, and whilst it wasn’t a ‘Halloween Dance’, everyone tended to dress up for it anyway. As soon as it was announced the two of them had immediately decided that going as a pair was the only possible option.

“I don’t know,” Ivy had given it some thought but hadn’t managed to come up with anything, “Do you have any ideas?” 

“I have an idea,” Nadia shrugged, “But I don’t know if it’s any good.” 

Ivy turned to Nadia, her eyebrows raised in question, “What is it? I’m sure it’s good.” 

“I thought we could go as Glinda and Elphaba, but it’s really hard to do, what with like costumes and all.” She sat up as she said it, looking at the other girl hopefully. 

Ivy stood up, her eyes wide, head spinning with ideas and possibilities, “Nadia, you’re a genius! An absolute genius!” 

Nadia blushed, looking down at her feet, embarrassed and unused to all the praise. 

“We could ask Sister Chantelle if we can raid the costume closet, they have heaps of old stuff in there that doesn’t get used anymore!” Ivy was pacing the room now, unable to contain her excitement at the possibility that Halloween was going to bring. 

“Do you reckon she’ll let us?” Nadia asked. 

Sister Chantelle was strict and demanding, but over the past few weeks had proven to also be kind and supportive to everyone who passed through the sacred doors of the drama room, and Ivy knew she would happily let Ivy and Nadia dive into the costume closet. 

“Yeah, no worries,” Ivy responded, “She’s always letting students use the costumes for assignments and stuff, as long as you don’t damage them it’s fine.” 

Nadia nodded, “fair enough.” 

“We’ll need to start getting them together soon though, the dance is only like two weeks away.” Ivy said, “We also need to decide who’s going as who.” 

Both of the girls looked at each other as if they were trying to read the others mind, before quickly looking away. If there was any unspoken agreement that had passed between them, it was that that particular issue was going to be resolved at a later date. Neither of them wanting to ruin the happiness and giddiness that had started to consume them. 

“We can speak to Sister Chantelle after rehearsals tomorrow.” Nadia said, picking up her book and lying back down on her bed.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ivy agreed, “it’s gonna be such a good Halloween!” Ivy sat back down at her desk, pulling out a new piece of blank paper, and started sketching. Pictures of Elphaba and Glinda soon filled the page, with various costumes and colours adorning them, she placed them in modern clothes, in Shakespearean clothes – heavily inspired by her Midsummer Night’s Dream sketches – in their original costumes, in each others clothes. She drew well into the evening, as Nadia read comfortably on her bed, the two occasionally exchanging whatever odd thought that came to them. 

 

**Jason**

“So, for this Halloween Dance do we actually have to dress up?” Jason and Peter were walking to English, their last class of the day and one of the few classes they shared together. The cohort was split into two for each subject, and because Jason was taking music and Peter drama the two only shared English and History together, their timetables not aligning with any other subject.

“I’m not sure,” Peter responded, “I think some people do, but it’s not exactly expected.” 

“Are you dressing up?” Jason hadn’t decided if he was going to or not. Nadia had said something to him the other day about her and Ivy going as a pair, but Peter hadn’t said anything about it so far, and Jason knew no one from his Baseball team were particularly keen about dressing up. Though one of the 8th graders in the team did mention something about trading uniforms with the footballers, hardly creative but at least they were doing something. 

“I hadn’t really given it much thought,” Peter shrugged, trying to adjust the straps on his backpack which had continuously been slipping off his shoulders the entire day. “I guess it would be fun, but I’m not sure how many others are dressing up.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Also, I don’t have any ideas and no way of organising a costume.” Peter looked across at Jason, “What about you? – Stupid bag.” His backpack had once more slipped off his right shoulder, sighing in frustration he yanked off his other shoulder. 

“Here let me.” Jason stuck out his hand, as Peter handed over possession of his bag. “I haven’t really thought about it,” Jason answered, fiddling with the bag straps, trying to even them out. “I don’t really have anything I could go as, even if I did want to dress up, which I don’t know if I do – Man, are these stuck or something?” Jason pulled at the straps, but they were unwilling to tighten for him. 

“I don’t know,” Peter shrugged, “be careful though.” 

Jason rolled his eyes, “yeah, yeah, I will.” 

“No, seriously, it’s my only bag, don’t break it.” 

Jason just looked at Peter as he kept trying to pull at the straps, which were still refusing to tighten, “it’s in my capable hands.” 

Peter scoffed at that, “You nearly broke our window yesterday trying to open it.” 

“Shut up,” Jason said, aghast that Peter would bring that up, “you promised not to talk about that.” 

“I thought it was worth reminding you before you decide to break my bag.” Peter snapped back, “besides I did tell you to just call a teacher about it, but you decided to be a hero and try to open it yourself.” 

Jason just glared, not deeming the statement worthy of a response. He was going to fix Peter’s bag for him, even if Peter didn’t exactly trust him with it. 

“Why don’t the two of us just not dress up,” Jason said, changing the subject away from him and his futile attempts at fixing things, “that way even if everybody else is dressed up we won’t be entirely alone.” 

“That feels like a bit of a cop out,” Peter admitted, “Like, if everybody else is dressing up we should to.” 

Jason sighed, “fine, think of something we can go as and we’ll go as that.” 

Peter looked across him, confusion plastered on his face, “You want to go together? Like, dress up together, I mean.” 

“Yeah, why not?” Jason said nonchalantly, as if it was something that didn’t need to be questioned, “besides, it makes sense.” 

Peter didn’t respond straight away, instead he looked down the hall, where plenty of students were still milling around, none in a rush to get to their final class for the day. Jason risked a glance at the other boy, who appeared to be deep in a thought that confused him, his eyebrows furrowed together and his teeth biting his bottom lip. 

“Pete?” Jason asked after a few seconds of silence. 

“Yeah?” 

The two boys had finally gotten to the door of their classroom, Jason peered inside, most of the class appeared to be seated, but there was no sign of their teacher. Thanking God for the few seconds they had to spare, he turned to face Peter, holding his bag for him to take. 

“Here, I couldn’t fix it.” 

Peter took the bag wordlessly, a soft smile on his face. 

“Look, if you don’t want to dress up for Halloween with me, that’s fine,” Jason started. 

“What, no, that’s not it.” Peter interrupted, finally pulled out of his thoughts. “You’re right, it makes sense. We can talk about it later yeah?” 

Peter opened the door and walked into the classroom, and Jason quickly followed, shaking his head, unsure about what was going through his roommate’s mind. 

 

**Peter**

“It’s not weird that Jason wants to dress up with me for Halloween, is it?” Peter was in Matt and Lucas’ room. Jason was out at baseball training and Peter didn’t particularly feel like spending anytime alone, besides the two boys were always up to something, either having a go at each other or in various stages of destroying their room – the latter mainly at the hands of Lucas. 

“What do you mean weird?” Lucas and Matt were both sitting on Lucas’ bed, x-box controllers in hand. Peter wasn’t entirely sure what game they were playing, but he knew it required quite a lot of shooting and apparently swearing.  
“It’s just Halloween, it’s not that big a deal.” Matt said. 

‘I don’t know,” Peter shrugged, “it just, well, it seems kinda…” 

‘Gay?” Matt offered, eyes darting away from the t.v to rest on Peter.

“What, no, that’s not, no, I just meant…” he trailed off, averting his eyes from Matt, who was still starring at him.

“Matt, you’re legit in a play,” Lucas said, “if anyone’s gay, it’s you.” 

“Shut up Lucas, you’re gay.” 

“Wow, clever,” Lucas shook his head, “fuck, Matt, what’d you do that for!” He yelled at the screen in response to Matt blowing up a base, which Jason assumed belonged to Peter. 

“Sorry, dude,” Matt said, sounding anything but sorry, a smirk appearing across his face. 

Peter shifted uncomfortably on Matt’s bed where he’d been sitting for the better part of an hour, suddenly feeling very out of place in the two boys room. 

Lucas before turning to face Peter, “Dude, if you wanna dress up with Jason dress up with Jason. It’s Halloween, it’s weird regardless.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Peter nodded, “I just thought he’d want to dress up with the baseball guys that’s all.” 

“I don’t think they’re dressing up,” Lucas replied. “What about you Matty? Are you dressing up? Or is that too gay?” 

“I haven’t thought about it,” Matt responded sharply, putting his controller down and exclaiming that he was finished playing. 

“Fair enough, those tights you have to wear for drama probably cloud your thoughts.” 

“Shut up!” Matt snapped, “why aren’t you having a go at Peter, he’s also in the play.” 

“I like Peter more,” Lucas’ reply came, “he doesn’t keep me awake with his snoring.” 

“You’re so full of shit.” - “Thanks.” Both boys said in unison.

“I speak nothing but the truth.” Lucas responded, “and you’re most welcome Peter.” Lucas said with a sickly sweet smile.

Peter returned to the smile with a slight one of his own. Looking down at his watch he realised Jason would be finished with baseball soon and jumped off the bed. 

“Seeya guys,” Peter waved at the boys who were bickering over which level to play next. 

Matt turned around, “catch you later.” Lucas seized the opportunity to pick the level he wanted, giving Peter a slight wave. 

“Hey, if you don’t want to dress up with Jason, I’m sure Matt will be down.” Lucas yelled as Peter was walking out the door. 

“What the hell, man!” Peter heard Matt yell in indignation. Peter wasn’t sure if it was due to the comment or because of the video game, either way he was glad he wouldn’t have to witness another shouting match from the two roommates 

Peter rolled his eyes, walking across the hall to his room, with Matt and Lucas’ bickering only just reaching his ears. He knew Lucas was right, and that it really wasn’t a big deal that Jason wanted to dress up with him for Halloween, it wasn’t as if Jason had made a big deal out of it, he’d only suggested it on the spur of the moment anyway. But, Peter still couldn’t seem to not make anything but a big deal out of it. The Halloween dance was just over a week away, and Peter promised to talk to Jason about it. 

 

 **Nadia**

“Ummm, Ivy, how exactly am I going to paint my entire face green?” The green face paint in her hand didn’t look like it’d be enough to make her face fully green and she was beginning to regret ever voicing her idea for their Halloween costume. Ivy was right and Sister Chantelle had let them borrow the old costumes for the dance and sure, it had seemed like a good idea at the time, the two of them dressing up as Glinda and Elphaba, and she hadn’t even minded that Ivy wanted to be Glinda. Ivy had had the decency to be very apologetic when she’d asked Nadia if she would mind if Ivy was Glinda. But the idea of covering her face in green wasn’t exactly an attractive one. 

Nadia liked the costume she was going to wear, a black dress with a petticoat they had found amongst the costumes. They’d manage to find a pink dress for Ivy, riddled with tussles and sequins and ribbons, and Ivy had somehow managed to make it look less like the trashy dress it actually was, and more like her and the dress had stepped directly out a fairy-tale. Nadia had assumed she’d feel jealous, jealous that Ivy was able to make anything look good, but she felt nothing but affection and happiness for her friend. 

“Don’t make your whole face green if you can’t manage it.” Ivy said, walking over to where Nadia was situated in front of the mirror. “It’s gonna be a pain to wash off anyway, if you do do it.” 

Nadia nodded, she really didn’t want to be spending time rubbing off green from her face, or from her pillow, or from her clothes for that matter. 

“Do you think people will still know though?”

Ivy shrugged, “I’m sure they’ll figure it out. Not all of them are idiots.”

As Nadia pulled on her dress, and Ivy did her hair, trying to curl it in just the right way, they predicted what the others were going to go as. Not everybody would be dressing up, but both Peter and Matt had told them in rehearsals that they were, and Nadia remembers Diane mentioning something about a Hermione Granger costume in History class the other day. Last time she’d seen Jason he said he didn’t know what he was wearing, and that he’d probably just go as whatever the baseball team was going as. 

“Ok,” Ivy said, stepping back from the mirror where she’d been doing her hair, “I think I’m ready.”

***

The dance was fine. 

That’s what Nadia had told her mum, one of the first true things she’d probably told her all year. Nadia and Ivy were definitely the best dressed out of their classmates – although Peter and Jason’s matching Clark Kent and Superman costumes were pretty good – but apart from putting everyone else to shame with their costumes the dance didn’t live up to expectation. Ivy had wanted to spend the entire night on the dance floor, which lost most of it’s appeal for Nadia after about half an hour. Nadia wasn’t a dancer, but she wasn’t sure if it was more a 'not particularly liking jumping up and down next to a bunch of my peers who are dripping sweet all over me' or more because she was never what exactly was expected of her when she danced. Was she supposed to jump up and down the entire time? How much space was she allowed to take up? Did she have to dance in a big group that included people she hardly knew? 

Nadia left Ivy dancing with Peter and Diane, who’s Wonder Woman costume was a lot better than Nadia expected, in search for something to drink. 

“Hey sis, not a fan of dancing?” Jason was leaning against the gym wall, a smirk on his face, as if he was amused at his sisters lack of dance skills, which, if Nadia knew her brother at all, he probably was.

“Oh, you know me too well, lil bro, I’m touched,” Nadia gripped her heart, leaning into Jason making him stumble, a wide smile on her face. 

Jason shoved her, “get off.” 

Nadia unattached her shoulder from Jason’s, allowing both of them to stand up straight again. 

“I have to say, I’m impressed with your costume,” Nadia told her brother, “did you think that up? Or was it more a team effort?”

“It was a team effort. I came up with the idea of doing superheroes, and Pete thought it’d be clever to go as the same character, but like not really the same, yaknow.” Jason looked down at Nadia, smiling.

“Peter’s smart, you should keep him around,” Nadia nudged Jason.

“He is,” Jason said, “he’s also just a nice guy. Like, he’s good, and decent, and I’m -anyway…” Jason trailed off.

“What?” Nadia prodded her brother, it wasn’t like him to hide what he was thinking, especially not from her.

Jason shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m just glad he’s my roommate, that’s all. He’s a good roommate.”

Nadia nodded, “yeah, he seems like it.”

“Yeah…” Jason turned to look out onto the makeshift dance floor. 

Nadia took the opportunity to study her brother. She was glad him and Peter were getting on well, happy that Jason would have a friend outside of his sports, someone who could maybe quieten the thoughts that manifested in her twin brother’s mind. Nadia knew Jason was nervous about St Cecelia’s, out of the two of them he had the most to leave behind and loose at home, he didn’t need or necessarily want to start new. She recalls the hot summer night he voiced those fears, Nadia’s air conditioner was broken and she’d been bunking with Jason, maybe it was the heat, or the looming presence of school starting, but they told each things they would later deny ever having spoken allowed. Jason had spent his entire childhood fitting in wherever he went, it made sense to her that he’d also fit in at St Cecelia’s, and he did, of course he did. She knew how important it was for him to fit in at school, how much it meant to him to have friends and people around him. Peter was going to be good for him, at least, she hoped he would be, he already seemed to be so.

“Come on,” Jason grabbed her by the arm, “we should probably go dance.” 

“Jason!” Nadia planted her feet firmly on to the gym floor, “I’m not dancing.”

“Please.”

“You go dance if you want to,” Nadia said, “I’m happy here.” 

“Nadia.”

“Jason.” 

The two glared at each other, waiting for the other to relent – glaring matches weren’t uncommon between the twins, and Nadia usually won them thanks to her ability to hold a stare. 

“Fine, don’t come dance,” Jason said, looking away from Nadia’s glare, blinking rapidly, trying to get moisture back into his eyes, “but, like you’re going to socialise right?” 

Nadia rolled her eyes, waving Jason away, “Yes, I’ll be fine. Just go dance. Be merry!” 

Jason walked out to the dance floor, and was immediately surrounded by a bunch of baseball guys, who thought that jumping up and down in a huddle was the best way to showcase their dancing ability. Nadia smiled, shaking her head as she wandered off to finally get some water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i decided to split this chapter, because it was getting long and too jumpy, so you're gonna have more Peter next chapter
> 
> hmu @queennmab on tumblr to talk about my kids


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thanksgiving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, so i figured out a little bit of a timeline. basically they're graduating in 2017 (bare doesn't really have a canon time period ok), which means its 2011 when they start St cecilia's
> 
> rating changed cause these kids swear a bit

_1:4 feel at ease_

__

 

**Peter**

Peter finally laid down to sleep after the Junior Dance exhausted but with his heart singing. Everyone found his and Jason’s costumes hilarious and clever, but Peter was happy to admit that Ivy and Nadia had beaten them by a mile, they both looked so incredible in their costumes, and was slightly disappointed they hadn’t asked him to also go with them. Peter had told Ivy this, saying he would have made a great Fiyero. Ivy simply patted him on the shoulder, promising him that they’ll go as a group next year, before grabbing his hand and dragging him onto the dance floor. Nobody had commented on him and Jason going together, outside of telling them it was clever and funny, and Peter was incredibly thankful for that, as well as being a bit embarrassed at himself that he thought people would make a big deal over it. Lucas had been right, it was just a costume really, and he had been over thinking what Jason wanting to dress up with him meant. They were friends, and they enjoyed spending time together, and Peter was glad about that, and he didn’t need to make it into anything it wasn’t.

“Tonight was fun, hey?” Jason whispered from his bed across the room. 

Peter rolled over to look at the brown haired boy, able to make out the left side of his face in the dark. 

“Yeah, it was.” Peter whispered back, “Ivy and Nadia looked really nice, their costumes were amazing.”

Jason hummed in agreement, “Yeah, Nadia always loved Halloween. Any excuse to dress up. She would rope all the cousins into dressing up with her. I remember one year she managed to get us all to dress up as the family from the Sound of Music.” 

Peter chuckled, “Man, I would have paid to see that. Who were you?” 

“Umm, Mr Von Trapp.” Jason admitted. “Don’t laugh!” 

Peter tried to contain the laughter that was bubbling inside him, but couldn’t letting it spill out into the night  
“Don’t laugh!”

“I’m sorry Jace, I can’t help it,” Peter apologised through his laughter, “was Nadia Maria?” 

“Yep.” Jason said, finally breaking out into laughter. 

As their laughter died down Peter asked, “Do you have a lot of family? I mean, you must if you have enough to go as the Von Trapps.” 

Peter heard Jason roll over, so the two were facing each other from across the room. Both only able to faintly see each other in the moonlight streaming in from their blinds, casting the room in shadows of silver. 

“I guess, I mean my mum has no siblings, so it’s all just from my dad’s side. But there’s about 9 cousins, and a few of them have kids of their own. We don’t see each other that often, cause most of them are also off at school, or college, or whatever. But Christmas is always a big occasion.” 

“That must be nice,” Peter replied. 

“What must?” 

“To have such a big family.” Peter only really had his mum and granma. Only really visiting his dad for a few days on holidays, or on the weekend. But those times weren’t ones he looked forward to exactly. 

“It’s ok, but sometimes it’s a lot. Yaknow?” 

“Not really.”

“Oh well…” Jason sighed, “I guess, when there’s so many cousins and stuff, it’s sort of hard to fit in sometimes, and there’s always just so many of them, that no matter what you do someone has probably already done it.” 

“Maybe being an only child isn’t as bad as I thought.” Peter said, attempting a joke. 

The boys fell silent for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts. Peter didn’t know if he was envious of Jason or felt sorry for him. He knew Jason wanted to impress his parents, to make them proud, but he’d dismissed it as something every kid wanted to do. He knew he wanted to make his mother happy, to show her that he could be happy and do well at St Cecelia’s. But maybe Jason’s preoccupation with success ran deeper than he first thought. 

“I’m glad we’re roommates,” Jason said quietly, “like, I’m glad we’re friends.” 

“Yeah, me too.” Peter responded, his heart beating out of his chest, a grin erupting from his face. 

The two boys fell asleep, with the moonlight streaming into their room and the soft breathing of each other to guide them. 

 

**Nadia**

“You know it’d be kinda cool if we could actually get on stage maybe once in a while.” Nadia, Ivy, Peter and Matt were sitting together in the stage wings, watching as the older kids all fell in and out of love with each other. 

“Hmmm, I don’t care that much,” Peter shrugged, “I like watching them rehearse.” Nodding his head towards the stage. 

“Yeah, I guess they’re ok,” Ivy said. 

“But, we’re better.” Nadia stated, challenging any one to argue with her. 

“I mean…” Peter trailed off as Nadia fixed him with a hard stare. 

Nadia laughed, breaking her gaze. “I’m just messing Peter, but, nah you’re right, they’re pretty good.”

“Ok, but we all know that Simon is the best right?” Ivy chimed in, leaning over Matt to talk to Nadia.

“Yes” “No” – Peter and Nadia said in unison. 

“Ok, but if Simon isn’t the best, who is Nadia?” Peter challenged, crossing his arms, his eyebrows raised. 

“Yeah, Nadia, who?” Ivy mimicked Peter’s movement.

Nadia thought for a minute. Ivy and Peter we’re right, Simon was really good as Puck, but he wasn’t the most talented Senior in the cast. Fully believing that Ivy only thought he was the best because she thought he was incredibly attractive, and the most gorgeous person she’s ever laid eyes on, ‘Honestly, Nadia, it’s just unfair.” She had told Nadia one time after a day of rehearsals. 

“I think Hayley is the best,” Nadia said, looking out at the Senior girl who was currently on stage talking to Sister Chantelle. 

“Yeah, Hayley is pretty good,” Matt agreed, looking up from the book he’d had his head in the entire time. 

“I mean, sure she’s talented, and she’s doing a really good job,” Peter started, “but, I don’t think I’d say she’s the best.” 

Nadia looked over at Ivy, who was nodding along, obviously agreeing with what Peter was saying. 

“Ok, Peter, whatever you say,” Nadia scowled, “I’m just happy that if it couldn’t be me playing Titania, it’s her.” 

“I still think you would have been a better Titania.” Iv said, patting Nadia’s knee and leaving it there.

Nadia smiled at her, placing her own hand on top of Ivy’s, “Thanks.” 

The four sat in silence for a while, watching as Sister Chantelle was explaining something to the seniors on stage. Nadia lived for these moments. The quiet moments in between having to rehearse, where she could just sit and talk, or not talk, with her friends, engulfed in the dark wings with only the house lights casting shadows on their faces. The worries and stresses of the school day not mattering, at least for those few hours anyway. 

“Is everyone going home for Thanksgiving?” Ivy asked, breaking the silence. 

“Yeah, my family are heading down to DC, to visit my Uncle,” Matt said. Nadia didn’t know much about Matt’s family, but apparently he had an uncle who worked in DC. 

“Yeah, my mum is basically begging me to come home. She was going on and on last night about how she’s inviting all of my three cousins over, and it’s gonna be a big feast.” Peter shook his head at the ground, but Nadia noticed a small smile creep onto his face.

“What about you, Nadia?” Peter turned to her, “what do you guys do?”

“The normal really, have all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and all of that over.” 

“You have a pretty big family right?” Peter asked. 

“Yeah, it’s” Nadia looked for the right word, “a lot.” 

Ok, so maybe that wasn’t exactly the right word to describe what McConnell family gatherings were like, but she wasn’t ready to go into detail about how much she hated the holiday season. Not with Peter, and definitely not with Matt, who she liked well enough, but not well enough to let him in on the complexities of the McConnell family. 

Ivy nudged her knee, and smiled at her in silent understanding. The two had spoken a little about their families to each other. Ivy had whispered into the darkness one night about how she hated her dad, and Nadia had echoed that feeling back, quietly telling Ivy about her parents, safe in the knowledge that Ivy would listen free of any judgement or prying. 

Their conversation spiralled into a debate about whether Billy Elliot deserved to win the Tony that year – Peter made some pretty good arguments as to why it did, but Nadia and Ivy were insistent that Next to Normal was snubbed, Matt didn’t have much of an opinion anyway, but said he was happy Alice Ripley won (everybody was in agreement on that). The chorus was finally called up to rehearse their scenes, and the four of them made their way out onto stage Peter and Ivy discussing the pros and cons of winning a Tony with three other people. 

 

**Ivy**

“What time are your parents coming?” Ivy asked Nadia who was bent over her suitcase, trying to squeeze in a jacket. 

“Jason told me they’re coming around two,” Nadia responded, “but he also said that they had some function on in the morning, so really, who knows?” She managed to fit the jacket in, and with a final push closed the suitcase. “What about your mum?” Nadia turned around to face Ivy. 

“Around two thirty, but knowing my mum it’ll be closer to three.” Ivy was busy trying to pack up all her art supplies, making sure none of them would get damaged in the suitcase. Realistically she wouldn’t use all of them over the long weekend, but she didn’t want to leave them behind for them to get stolen. They weren’t in the best of condition, her brushes were pretty damaged, and her pencils were getting short, but they were all she had, and she knew she’d have to make them last till Christmas at least. 

Nadia hummed in understanding, sitting down on her bed and leaning back against the wall, feet tucked under her. “Do you need help?” 

Ivy shook her head, “It’s fine, but thanks.” Slipping her sketch book and pencils into the suitcase, tucking them between some shirts and the side. Hopefully that will keep them safe. 

“You’re sure I can call you?” Nadia asked after Ivy had finished packing and both of their suitcases were sitting on the floor by their beds. 

“Of course, anytime.” Ivy had found her way over to Nadia’s bed, and the two girls were leaning up against the wall, their knees banging together. “Whenever you want.” 

“It’s not gonna be a problem?” Nadia asked, entwining her hand with Ivy’s – a thing the two had started doing after Ivy had grabbed Nadia’s before finding out the results of an English test. It was almost automatic now, to reach out to each other

Ivy looked at her, not quite able to place the feeling on Nadia’s face. She was strangely frightened to leave Nadia, even though it was only for four days. But she had become such an engrained part of her day to day life, she had made the terrifying, overwhelming experience of starting a new school so much easier. From the first day they had just clicked, they had seemed to understand each other, something Ivy had never had with someone else before, not even her mum. And it was nice, it was more than nice even, to not have to worry around them, or put up appearances or pretend you were someone you weren’t, to know that they got you, and you go them. She didn’t want to leave Nadia, and she knew Nadia didn’t want to leave her. And that thought terrified her. 

“You’re never a problem, Nadia,” Ivy squeezed her hand, “I’ll always wanna talk to you.” 

 

 **Jason**

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Jason kicked his bag, sprawling the contents of it all over the floor. Papers, books, pens and odd socks flying everywhere, adding to the mess of the room.

“What on earth, Jason” Peter yelled, “what has your bag ever done to you?”

“I can’t find my history test,” Jason huffed, “the one from the other week.”

“Ok,” Peter said slowly, “why do you need this test?”

“I just do,” Jason shrugged, “like, I just need it.”

Walking over to Jason, Peter put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find it then, yeah?”

Jason nodded. 

Him and Peter picked up all the stuff from the floor, and got to work looking for the history test. Working together in silence. 

Jason really did need the test. His parents insisted on seeing every test he’d done so far, needing to see for themselves how well he was doing, because apparently they didn’t trust him when he told them his results. He’d done well in that History test, it was a subject he liked and was good at, not that being good at a subject was surprising. Jason was top of his class so far, and intended to keep it that way. But he really did need to find that test paper. 

“So, do you do some weird sacred ritual with your test papers?” Peter started from where he was rifling through the top desk drawer. 

“Huh?” 

“I mean, I was going to ask if you framed the particularly good ones,” Peter continued, “but they’re all good, so you’d need a lot of frames and a lot of wall space. Not that I don’t think you have the wall space, you probably do, but I mean, it would seem like a bit of an overkill if you framed every single one of your tests -” 

Jason watched as Peter continued to ramble on, smiling as the boy moved on to the next drawer, having no luck with the first. Once that boy started talking it was hard for anyone to shut him up. One time Jason had made the mistake of asking him to explain the school play, and Peter had gone on a tangent about the symbolism and the themes and the context of it for a solid thirty minutes. Jason had been torn between being horrified and impressed, but he was mostly impressed. 

“- do you scrapbook them? Because my mum scrapbooks, I don’t really understand it, but then again, there’s a lot about my mum I don’t really understand. She scrapbooks everything, I don’t know where she finds the time, because she’s always busy working or looking after my grandma, but she’s pretty good at it.” 

“Pete.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up,” Jason said, there was no malice behind it, and when Peter turned around he saw that Jason was grinning, laughter threatening to overcome him. 

“You mean you don’t want to hear about my mums scrapbooking?” Peter gasped.

“As interesting as I’m sure it is,” Jason started sombrely, “no.” 

Peter laughed at that, a soft little laugh that made slight dimples appear. All of sudden the worry that had been plaguing Jason seemed to diminish. His anxiousness over finding the test had faded to a slight knot in his stomach rather than the full on entanglement it had been. They’d find the test eventually, and he’d breathe easy again. 

 

**Peter**

Peter had given up counting the amount of times he had helped Jason find something in the past few months. One time it was baseball gloves, the other time a tie, one time it was his entire school bag (Peter still isn’t sure how Jason managed to loose that), and last week he’d managed to misplace his calculator. Peter had suggested that Jason start some sort of organisation system, cause that way he wouldn’t loose things so easily, Jason had just shrugged at that, saying he ‘had a system, dammit.’ Peter wasn’t overly inclined to believe him. 

“Found it!” Peter turned to see Jason standing by the cupboard, a piece of crumbled paper held up in victory. 

“How did it end up in the cupboard?” Peter asked, shaking his head. The only reason that boy didn’t loose his head was because he was so focused, and honestly Peter didn’t understand how someone who was so determined and focused on academics could be so unorganised. 

“I think it fell out of my sports bag.” Jason replied, flattening the test out on his desk. Peter could see the A+ in the corner. 

“You know what,” Peter said, sitting back down on his bed, “I’m not even gonna bother asking why it was in your sports bag.”

Jason grinned at him, no hint of embarrassment on his face, “yeah, best not.” 

The two boys finished packing their bags, neither of them needing to take much, before making their way out of their room and heading to the carpark. 

“I kinda can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving already.” Peter said as the two passed the senior dorms. “Like, it’s a little crazy that nearly three months have passed.” 

“Yeah, it kinda is.” 

“Hey!” Peter perked up, suddenly remembering a conversation the two had had a few days back, “reckon your parents will let you bring back that portable stereo you were talking about?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll ask,” Jason said, nodding, “but I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“Cool,” Peter grinned, “I’ll make sure to add more songs to my iPod.” 

“Wicked.” Jason grinned back. 

Peter scanned the carpark when the two arrived, noticing that his mum was there already, waving enthusiastically when she saw him. A wave of longing overcame Peter, he hadn’t realised he’d missed his mum as much as he had, and he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to rush over to his mum and never let go of her. Instead, he turned to Jason. 

“My mum’s here,” he said, “wanna say hello?” 

Surprise briefly passed over Jason’s face, “Ahhh, sure. My parents aren’t here yet, anyway.”

 

**Ivy**

Her mum was late, which didn’t really surprise her, but she didn’t exactly want to wait in a slowly emptying school with the wind getting colder every minute. Ivy’s mum had called that morning promising her she’d be there by two thirty at the latest, it was getting on past three. Everyone else had pretty much left, and only a few older students and teachers who were staying over the long weekend for whatever reasons were still around. Nadia and Ivy had hugged goodbye, Nadia telling her that she’d bring back as many playbills as she had, and Ivy promising to watch a Wicked bootleg if she had the chance, and that she’d call as often as possible. 

“Promise?”

“Yeah, Nadia, I promise.”

Ivy pulled out her copy of Hunger Games, not expecting her mum to be there for a while. She would have called if she wasn’t going to make it. Ivy knew that at least. 

She was looking forward to going home, even if it was just for a little bit. She loved school so far, and she loved rooming with Nadia, but she wanted nothing more than to sit out on her porch, talking away the evening with her mum. As much as she had been aching to get out of the place, there were things she missed about it. Her mum was the first, her friends from primary school, Lianne and Martha the two who came to mind first. She just needed her mum to get there. 

Sister Margaret, her dorm supervisor, had come out and sat with her, insisting that Ivy shouldn’t be out there alone, not with everyone else having left. Sister Margaret tried to make small talk with her for a while, but realising it was a futile effort had left Ivy to her book.

It was closer to four by the time her mum pulled into the St Cecilia’s carpark. Bidding goodbye and wishing Sister Margaret a good holiday she hauled herself and her bag to the car. 

“Hey, love,” Her mum said, a smile etched on her face, almost as if she’d been rehearsing it the whole trip there, “how are you?” 

“I’m fine,” Ivy leaned over, kissing her mum on the cheek, “how are you?”

“Oh, I’m ok,” her mum said, “it’s been a busy morning. Nana is over, she’s staying over for the weekend. So, I’ve been busy getting her settled in and everything. Sorry I was late.” 

Ivy shook her apology of, telling her mum it was fine and she understands. Her Nana was her dad’s mum, and Ivy’s joy at going home and seeing her mum had all but evaporated. Her Nana was a lot, and Ivy dreaded the rare occasions she decided to visit. 

“Hey, I missed you,” Ivy smiled over at her mum. 

“I missed you too,” Her mum said, patting her knee and starting the car, “should we go?”

“Yeah, I wanna go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on tumblr @queennmab


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the 2 week absence, but here have some bonding siblings

_1:5 we just want you to be happy_

**Jason**

“Hey, Pete?” 

“Hmmm?” Came Peter’s response from the floor where he was working on an art project. 

“Would you break my leg for me, if I asked?” Jason said, his voice slightly muffled due to being face down on his bed. 

“What? Why?” Peter asked, “I mean, like, I guess I would, if you really wanted me to, but it’d probably hurt a bit and it might take me a few attempts. Plus, you won’t be able to play baseball.” 

“Yeah, that’s the whole point.” 

Peter’s interest was really piqued now, and he shuffled over so he was kneeling by Jason’s bed, eye level to his head. 

“Ok, I’m confused, why don’t you want to play baseball? Don’t you have a game this weekend?” 

Jason sighed, turning his head so he was facing Peter. 

“I just, it’s so stressful, and I’m not even great at it, plus it’s just kinda boring.” 

“it’s boring, you right, but you’re really good.” Peter encouraged, “And, I don’t think you should quit the team, and I’m not breaking your leg to get you out of playing on Saturday.” 

“And I thought I could trust you.” 

“You can trust me.”

“Then why won’t you break my leg?” Jason prodded, a smirk starting to creep onto his face. 

Peter cocked his head, his hand on his chin, pretending to think long and hard about, “Hmmmm, as tempting as it sounds, I don’t think it'd go down well with the school, or your parents if your roommate broke your leg. Besides you’d have Mary fussing over you every second of the day, can you imagine?” 

‘Shut up,” Jason laughed, “she wouldn’t.” 

“Really?” Peter raised his eyebrows, “because she never shuts up about you in rehearsals, she’s constantly pestering me about you, it’s kinda annoying.” 

Jason shrugs, “I guess she’s kinda pretty.” 

“I’ve never really thought about it,” Peter responds in a bit of a rush, “anyway, why do you suddenly hate baseball?”

Jason shrugged again. 

Peter threw his hands up in the air, “ok, ok, whatever, don’t tell me.” He got up off his knees dusting them off, heading back to his art project. He paused, looking back at Jason. 

“You know, baseball’s kinda a stupid sport anyway.” 

“Yeah, you’re more into that gaelic football thing or whatever, aren’t you?” 

Peter rolled his eyes, “I wish I never told you about my granma being Irish.” 

“You’ve gotta teach me how to speak gaelic sometime though.” 

“I don’t speak Irish, you idiot.” 

Jason raised his eyebrows at that, “hmmm, sure you don’t.” 

Peter rolled his eyes again, and anyone else would have though he was annoyed, but Jason could notice the slight twitch of his mouth, as if Peter was trying to keep himself from smiling. 

“Whatever,” Peter got up, scratching his head and looking down at his art project, “I think I need to get some help with this.” 

Jason lifted himself off the bed, walking over to stare down at Peter’s creation. 

“I think it’s good.” 

“Yeah, but you haven’t seen Ivy’s,” Peter said, creases appearing between his eyes, “hers is really good.” 

“Yeah, but it’s Ivy, it’s always gonna be good.” 

Jason faced Peter, who was biting his lip, worrying starting to form on his face. “Hey, yours is really good, like it needs some work, but once it’s done I think it’s gonna be amazing.” 

“I think I’m gonna take it over to Nadia and Ivy’s, Ivy said she was working on hers,” Peter said as he bent down to pick up his canvas and various materials he’d been using, “wanna come?”

“Yeah, ok,” Jason nodded, he liked spending time with Ivy, and him and Nadia didn’t always get to see each other often considering they didn’t share many classes or any extracurricular activities, “Need help?” 

Peter nodded, handing a stuck of photos to Jason, as well as some scissors and glue. 

“So, what exactly is the project, anyway?” Jason asked as they made their way over to Ivy’s, “something about family and shit hey?” 

“Yeah, we have to basically make a collage of things that represent our family and where we come from and all. But cause its art it has to be like arty and everything.” 

Jason hummed in understanding, he had opted out of art, deciding to do music instead, he’d never been very good at drawing or anything remotely close to visual arts. So he’d opted to do music because Nadia was also doing it, and that she’d be able to help him – or at least he’d hoped she would.

Ivy was sitting cross-legged on the floor, pictures, paper, pens and glue sprawled in front of her. Meanwhile Nadia was on her bed, lying on her back with her head hanging off the edge, talking to Ivy. 

“That doesn’t look comfortable,” Jason said to Nadia as they entered the room, plonking himself down next to her, back against the wall and his foot in her face. 

“Get your foot out of my face,” She said, shoving it aside. 

“Your wish is my command sister.”  
Ivy and Peter had quickly exchanged each others work, and were talking to each other about what they both needed to fix and change. Jason and Nadia watched on, occasionally commenting on something, but mainly staying quiet, happy to watch as their friends worked. 

Peter turned to Nadia, after Ivy had finished telling them about her Granma and how she migrated from Brazil. “You know that Jason hates baseball, right?” 

Jason groaned, he didn’t want to get into his baseball drama with his sister. Not because he thought she’d go and tell his parents, they had a pact that neither of them would willingly break. They’d made it when they were nine and Nadia had failed a maths test, and Jason had vowed to not tell their parents. Ever since then the two promised each other that they’d never tell their parents anything about each other, not without the others permission. It was something Jason was incredibly grateful for. 

Jason didn’t want to discuss it with Nadia because he knew what she would say. 

“What? Jason, since when have you hated baseball?” 

Jason shrugged, he felt like he’d been doing a lot of that today.

Nadia looked at him, and he felt as if he was being dissected, bracing himself for the inevitable prodding that would occur. If there was one thing Nadia was good at, it was reading her brother, and too often had Nadia been able to figure out what exactly Jason was thinking. He would have put it down to a twin thing, but Jason still never fully understood what was going on in Nadia’s mind. So, it was a Nadia thing. 

“You know; you don’t have to be the best at something to enjoy it, Jason.” She said, sitting up next to him on the bed. 

“that’s not… I don’t… I don’t hate baseball because I’m not the best,” Jason spat out, “I’m not that superficial or competitive.” 

“I don’t think she meant it like –” 

“That’s exactly what she meant.” Jason cut Peter off with a glare that made the other boy shrink back. Jason hadn’t mean to snipe at Peter, but he was to angry to dwell on it. 

“You think that I have to be the best to enjoy something? That if I’m not the best I’m instantly going to hate it? It’s not like that, Nadia, you know that.” 

Jason was on his feet now, Peter and Ivy had gone quiet, unsure how to deal with the fighting siblings. 

“Jason, come on, I know how you get about things,” Nadia said softly, trying to calm the situation before it got out of hand, “and I know you’ve been struggling with Baseball, you’re allowed to admit that much surely.”

“You, you know do you?” Jason could feel the anger swelling in him, he had never been very good at keeping it in check, “have you been at every training session? Have you been watching my performance and noting it down, tracking my progress? Hmmm, what exactly do you know, Nadia?”  
“Jason.” 

“Whatever, this is boring, I’m going back to my room.” 

Jason walked out of the room, fuming, close to tears. He had to calm down, he had to get it together. Jason wasn’t sure where he was going with the halls all seeming to roll into one, and he was just hoping he was heading towards his room. 

 

**Nadia**

She screwed up, she always seemed to screw up. Always seemed to say the wrong things, push people away. She felt like an idiot, what was she good at if she wasn’t even good at being a sister? 

“Shit, I didn’t mean to say that” Nadia said, her eyes resting on Peter, pleading him to help her, “I didn’t even think about what I was saying, I just, shit I screwed up.” 

“Hey,” Peter said, gripping her shoulders gently, “it’s ok, I know you didn’t mean it, and I think Jason knows that too, but you should go talk to him, apologise.” 

Right, she had to fix things. She’d have time for self-pity later, right now she had to find Jason. 

Her eyes flickered across to Ivy, but quickly looked away when she noticed the pity and sadness on her face. She didn’t want Ivy feeling sorry for her, she didn’t want her pity, nor her help. She’d fix it herself, she had to. 

“I’m gonna go find him.”

***

Nadia found Jason sitting on the steps leading up to the floor his dorm was on. Surprised he hadn’t made it all the way to his room. Jason wasn’t one for public displays of emotion, neither of them were. 

“Hey,” Nadia nudged his foot gently. When he didn’t respond she placed herself down next to him, and continued. 

“Look, I’m sorry, ok,” Nadia started, struggling to figure out what to say next. “I, I wasn’t thinking about how it would sound. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.” 

“But it did.” Jason snapped.

“Jason.”

“Just forget about it, ok.” Jason said, going to stand up.  
Nadia grabbed his arm, pulling him down gently, thankful that Jason didn’t put up a fight. 

“I’m sorry,” Nadia said again, a great sense of relief coming over her when Jason nodded, smiling at the apology. “If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine, but if you do, I’m always here, ok, and I’m sure Peter will be too.” 

Jason was quiet for a minute. Nadia knew Jason didn’t like being forced to talk about things, that he wasn’t comfortable always opening up, and Nadia was never going to force him to do that. If Jason needed space and time, then that’s what she’d give him. She also knew that if he was going to talk to anyone it would be her first. It had always been the two of them, whispering secrets in the middle of the night, or lying on the trampoline after tiring themselves out telling each other things they never told their school friends, and would definitely never tell their parents. 

“Hey, have you spoken to mum or dad recently?” Jason broke the silence. 

Nadia hadn’t. 

“Oh, ok,” Jason said as Nadia shook her head. 

“Why,” she asked, “have you?” 

“I called dad yesterday but he said he didn’t have time to talk.” 

“I don’t particularly want to speak to either of them.” Nadia admitted, remembering the last phone call she had with her mum and shuddering, her mum’s shrill voice echoing in her ear.

“Hmmm, that’s true,” Jason looked over at her, “wait, does that make us bad children?” 

“I don’t know, maybe it makes them bad parents?” 

“Yeah, that sounds more likely.” Jason nodded, his voice seeming lighter all of a sudden. 

Nadia broke into laughter, and overwhelming sense of lightness coming over her, one which she could only put down to seeing Jason no longer sad. 

“Why are you laughing?” 

“I don’t know.”

“You’re a loser,” Jason said, shaking his head at his sister, an obvious smile on his face. 

“Ok, sure, if you say so loser” Nadia responded standing up, “anyway, come on loser, I think it’s nearly time for dinner.” 

Jason go to his feet, wiping his face on his sleeve, an action he would have been told off for at home. 

“I hope it’s not soup again,” Jason said, swinging his arm around Nadia’s shoulder, “I’m sick of soup.” 

“I’m sick of you,” Nadia mumbled with a smile on her face, happy to have her brother by her side.

**Ivy**

“Reckon they’ll sort it out?” 

Ivy tore her gaze away from door, where it had been ever since Nadia had left to find Jason, to face Peter.

“I hope so,” Ivy responded. 

“I should go and help,” Peter said, looking back at the door worry in his eyes.

“Nadia will talk to him, it’ll be fine.” 

“But – “ 

“Peter, I’m sure they’ve had much worse fights than this,” Ivy reasoned, “they’ll be fine.” 

Ivy tried to ignore the dejected look on Peter’s face. As much as she would have liked to have helped Nadia, she knew the twins had to sort things out by themselves, and Ivy had the confidence that they would, she knew how much Nadia cared for Jason, and she was sure Jason cared as much for Nadia as she did him. 

“Come on,” Ivy said, trying to get Peter’s mind off Jason, “let’s pack up here, I think it’s nearly dinner time.” 

Peter and Ivy slowly packed up their art supplies, taking care not to rip or crumple their projects. 

“I’m going to take this back to my room,” Peter said, indicating the pile in his hands. 

“I’ll come,” Ivy said, “we can head to dinner after.” 

Ivy liked hanging out with Peter, and didn’t get to do it that often, at least not just the two of them. She was either always with Nadia, or he was with Jason, and it’s hard to get to know someone when theirs someone else the other would rather talk to. But, whenever they did get to hang out, just the two of them conversation always run easily, most of their conversations did end up revolving around theatre, but that didn’t bother either of them. 

Ivy didn’t know that much about Peter’s home life, but she got the impression he also wasn’t the biggest fan of his father. Maybe she’d bring it up one day, but she also understood wanting to hide things. 

“Hmm, weird,” Peter said as they entered his room, “I thought Jason would have come back here.” 

Ivy didn’t respond, instead looking around at the dorm room. She hadn’t been inside Jason and Peter’s room much, and she was glad about that standing inside it now. The room was a mess, which shouldn’t have surprised her as much as it did, they were twelve-year-old boys after all, but Ivy had seen Peter’s locker, and the room didn’t reflect the neatness of it. 

“Jason’s a mess,” Peter said, noticing Ivy’s disgust at the state of the room, “I don’t know how he manages to do so well considering he spends a good half hour every morning tryna find his books.” 

“Why don’t you clean it up?” Ivy asked, “you’re pretty neat, right?”

Peter shrugged, placing his art project on his desk, “It doesn’t bother me that much, and all my stuff is in order. Besides, I’m not gonna clean up Jason’s mess, he can do that himself.”

“Fair enough.” 

“Do you know that we spent an entire Sunday evening trying to look for his tie?” Peter said, a hint of exasperation in his voice, “we ended up finding it rolled up in one of his shoes, like, how? What was he doing for it to end up there? He said he’d put it in his shoes after training, to not loose it, but of course he forgot.” 

“You really care for him, don’t you?” Ivy said, Peter’s fond expression not going unnoticed. 

“Ummm, I guess,” Peter responded, “he’s my best friend.” 

“I’m glad.” 

Peter gave her a strange look, as if wanting to say something else but thought better of it, “dinner?” he said, tilting his head slightly. 

“Dinner,” Ivy agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here kids, i think next chapter is gonna be christmas and new years, but it probably wont be up for about a month cause i have assignments and exams and all


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the absence, i was having a breakdown about exams, but im on summer break now, so hopefully you'll be getting weekly to fortnightly updates, but don't hold me to anything

_1:6 block the doubt_

**Peter**

“I can’t believe Mr Lancaster is making me redo my entire English essay,” Lucas was saying, well more like complaining, “I mean, I’ve already done it, why make me do it again?”

Peter was walking with Jason, Lucas and Matt to dinner, Lucas grumbly loudly about the injustice being dealt to him by his English teacher that day. The other three half-heartedly obliging him.

“Probably because you handed it in all covered with, what was again? Oh, yeah half a bottle of coke.” Jason said. 

“But, it was still readable,” Lucas said pointedly.

“Was it really though?” Peter chimed in. 

Lucas looked shocked at the question, “I could read it,” as if that settled the matter. 

“Oh, well, that’s that. Lucas Carter can read his own coke covered English essay, so why does it matter if anybody else can?”

Lucas glared at Matt, “why aren’t you supporting me in this?” 

“In what?” Matt shrugged. 

“In the complete and utter unfairness of it all, we should be protesting, fighting against the system. I mean, it’s like what we learnt in history about the French fighting against an unjust system, or whatever. And like how they cut off all those peoples head. We should do that, unite, take a stand together.” Lucas said with a great deal of bravado, as if he had stumbled upon the next revolutionary political ideology.

“Are you suggesting we cut off Mr Lancaster’s head?”

“What?” Lucas shook his head, “no, weren’t you listening Peter. We don’t need to cut off his head to rebel against an unjust system, what is with you? Not everything is to do with cutting off heads.”

“Lucas.” 

“Yeah?”

“Shut up,” Jason said. 

“Make me,” Lucas grinned

Peter let out a snort at that, unable to contain himself, earning himself a glare from Lucas and smile from Jason, which he happily returned. 

“You’re such a shit, Lucas,” Matt said, visibly annoyed with his roommate.

“Oh, ok, I’m a shit,” Lucas said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “like, you really think I’m a shit?”

“Yep, a certified shit.” 

Before Peter knew what had happened Matt and Lucas were wrestling with each other. An event that didn’t exactly surprise anyway as Matt and Lucas were always going at it. Peter figured they probably couldn’t last a day without a fight of some sort, and sometimes those fights happened to turned physical. 

“Should we?” Peter turned to Jason as the other two showed no signs of breaking up. 

Jason shook his head, a grin spread across his face, “nah, let them at it.” 

“You sure?” 

Jason didn’t seem too concerned with the fight happening before their eyes, and Peter knew the boys would stop eventually, brush themselves off and be laughing about the whole thing a few minutes later. 

Peter felt Jason’s arm wrap around his shoulder, pulling him towards him, “come on, don’t want to miss dinner.” 

***

“Where we’re you guys?” Ivy asked, looking up from her meal as Peter and Jason sat down opposite her and Nadia. 

“Not breaking up a fight,” Peter said. 

“Huh?” 

“Matt and Lucas are tryna see who can cause the most damage to each other just outside,” Jason replied, digging into his massive pile of food. 

“So you just left them?” Ivy questioned, concern creeping into her voice. 

“Ahhh, yeah,” Jason said, as if Ivy’s question was the most absurd thing he’d ever heard. “What else we’re we supposed to do?” He asked, look at Peter for support. 

“Break them up.” 

“They’ll be fine, they’re always going at it,” Peter responded, Jason too busy eating to take further part in the conversation, “yesterday they spent two hours screaming and wrestling with each other because one of them lost an x-box controller.” 

“You get used to it.” Jason said, helping himself to Peter’s potatoes. 

Peter smacked his hand away, “get your own.” 

“Those boys are gonna kill each other one day.” 

“Oh well,” Jason shrugged, pulling a face at Peter who was heavily guarding his plate in case his best friend tried to steal anymore of his food, “that’s not our problem.” 

“We could turn their room into a games room,” Nadia chimed in. 

“We wouldn’t have to do much,” Peter stated, “it’s pretty much a games room already.” 

“True.” Nadia agreed, “just get rid of the beds, maybe add a few more couches. We’d definitely have to repaint it.” 

“Oh, a new coat of paint for sure,” Peter said with a laugh.

“Do you honestly reckon they’ll be ok?” Ivy asked, her thoughts still on Matt and Lucas. 

“Yes, I promise,” Peter offered her a smile, “they spend half their time fighting with each other, don’t worry about it.” 

That thought didn’t particularly seem to comfort Ivy, but Peter decided to not worry about it. Matt and Lucas would arrive for dinner at any moment, and Ivy would probably have to get used to the two of them always fighting. Lucas had been hanging out with Matt a lot more, meaning that he also hanged out with the four of them too, as Matt had become a part of their little group. Peter didn’t know how exactly it had happened, the six of them becoming friends. Him and Jason had never questioned if they were friends, all Peter knew was from the moment he had walked through their dorm room door, they had fallen into a steady, easy friendship. 

Ivy and Nadia joining their group was a no-brainer, Peter got on well with both, hanging out during classes and rehearsals when Jason wasn’t around. He was intrigued by Nadia, finding her very much like her brother, yet somehow completely different. On the surface, they seemed very different, and if Peter didn’t spend so much time with them both maybe he’d never have realised their similarities. Jason was loud and outgoing, his personality a firework that refused to go out, blazing the night sky wherever it went. Nadia, well, Nadia wasn’t that. She worked with sly smiles and subtle jokes, pointed sarcasm and jibes that left you unsure if she was complimenting you or attacking you. They were also so incredibly alike. They were nothing if not ambitious, and sure they worked to achieve their goals in different ways, but in the few months Peter had known them he had seen the glint in both of their eyes when they were deeply focused. He had also seen their quickly masked disappointed when they didn’t achieve something, as if they had been taught to never let their failings show. But, the thing that Peter found most similar about them is that he could spend hours with each of them and never get bored, wherever it was sitting in comfortable silence or wrapped up in conversation. 

Ivy, was another story entirely. Every time Peter thought he had figured her, she somehow managed to surprise him. But he trusted her, and he knew she loved Nadia, and vice-versa, so he didn’t question it. The two bonded over musicals and art, and complaining about having a McConnell as a roommate – although those complaints were more unknowing declarations of love. 

“About time,” Jason yelled across Peter, “surprised you guys didn’t rip each other’s eyes out.” 

Peter looked up to where Matt and Lucas were standing at the head of the table, arms wrapped around each other, eyes wide, with bright smiles plastered across their faces. Looking every bit as carefree and joyful as only teenage boys can. 

“Hah, I would have, but this one was begging for mercy,” Lucas laughed, bumping Matt’s shoulders. 

“You wish, I beat your arse dude,” Matt responded, sitting down next to Peter, pushing him closer to Jason. 

Matt and Lucas continued to bicker over who won for a little while longer, before the group settled down into a steady stream of warm conversation. 

 

**Jason**

Jason made a beeline to the door as soon as Father Jacob had dismissed them from Religion, he had Math next and had left his book in his dorm room, and he couldn’t afford to be late. 

“Hey,” Jason heard Ivy’s voice call from behind him, “Jason, wait up.” 

“Can’t, in a rush,” Jason yelled back. 

He hears Ivy curse behind him, but he doesn’t have time to worry about whatever Ivy wanted. She can talk to him later.

“Hey,” Ivy is at his shoulder, her pace fastening to keep up with his, “I want to talk to you.” 

“Look, Ivy, I need to get my math book, can we talk later.” Jason doesn’t spare her a glance, instead focusing on navigating himself through the hallway, going against the flow of students towards the dorms. 

“Ok, fine,” Ivy shouted over the swarm of peers, “but you better promise.” 

Jason ignored her, knowing that Ivy would come and find him regardless of if he promised or not.

He didn’t end up being late to Math, sliding into the room just as the bell for 4th period was ringing. He took his seat next to Lucas, who was surprisingly good at math, smiling at him before turning his attention to the front as their teacher was going through what would be in their midterms. Christmas break was approaching and Jason wasn’t particularly looking forward to exams, not because he hated exams so to speak, but because exams meant he then had to go home, and that was something he really didn’t want to do. 

Math class finished with a simper, with the rest of the day panning out exactly like the one before. Classes were routine, and stable, and Jason thrived off them. Peter had asked him once how he managed to do well academically whilst also never being organised. And it was simple, whilst he was in class he didn’t need to think or worry about anything else, it was just the lesson and what he needed to complete within the 45 minutes. Once you took the desk and chairs, and time restriction away his mind wandered.

It was a shake-up, coming to St Cecilia’s, a great part of him feared it. He was liked at home, he got on with everyone at home, he knew where he fitted in at home, and it wasn’t always easy at home, but at least he knew where he belonged. He didn’t know where he was going to belong at school. He was slowly figuring it out. He had Peter, and Nadia and Ivy, and to a lesser extent Matt and Lucas. And maybe baseball wasn’t turning out as he planned, but at least he was still getting a game, and so what if he decided not to do it next year? He’d try-out for something else instead. He was still waiting for the day where he’d belong only to himself, but every day felt like a small step closer.

***

As expected, Ivy did find him. He had headed straight to his dorm with Peter after their last class – English, which they shared – wanting nothing more than to just chill out till dinner.

“So, Christmas,” Ivy said, after she had made herself comfortable on Peter’s bed, “what are you guys doing?”

“Not much really, it’s only mum, grandma and me” Peter shrugged, wrapped up in the Rubik cube he’d been trying to solve for the past week.

“Yeah, just normal family stuff yaknow,” Jason responded, “midnight mass, family dinner, the usual.” 

Ivy nodded, and Jason swore he could see the clogs turning in her head. 

“What’s up, Ivy?” Peter asked, Jason smiling at the way his brows furrowed. 

“Well, I was just thinking, my local theatre company always puts this show on for New Years, and I thought maybe you guys could come and see it, and spend New Years at mine,” Ivy smiled, “it’s all ok with my mum, she was the one that suggested it, so you wouldn’t need to worry about that.” 

Jason looked across at Peter, who was looking at Ivy with a soft smile on his face, and he instantly knew they were feeling the exact same thing. 

“That sounds awesome, Ivy,” Jason said, turning his attention back on her, “I assume you’ve spoken to Nadia about it?” 

Jason knew the girls told each other everything. Maybe he would have envied the quick friendship his sister and Ivy had formed if he hadn’t noticed how happy Nadia was and how much she relied on Ivy. 

Ivy was biting her lip, her eyes focused on the floor, shame etched all over her face. 

“You haven’t told Nadia,” Jason realised, “why not?”

“I don’t know,” Ivy responded, her eyes still not meeting Jason’s, “didn’t want her to say no.” 

“What, that’s stupid,” Jason scoffs, “she’s not gonna say no, why would she say no?” 

Ivy shrugged. 

Sighing, Jason moved over to Peter’s bed, sitting himself next to Ivy, “Look, whatever you think Nadia is gonna say you’re wrong. She really likes you Ivy, you’re like the best friend she’s ever had, she’s not gonna turn down seeing you over Christmas.”

“You don’t know that.” Ivy meets Jason’s eyes, worry written all over her. 

“If you haven’t forgotten, she’s my twin sister,” Jason stated, “I think I know.”

“Ok, you don’t have to be so smug about it.” Ivy said, pushing Jason’s shoulder as a smile started to creep onto her face.

“So, you’ll tell my sister that we’re going to stay with you over New Years?” Jason checked, his eyebrows raised. 

“Yes, mum,” Ivy nods. 

“Hah, hah, hah,” Jason mocked, pulling a face at Ivy, “speak to my sister.” 

“Yeah, please do,” Peter chimed in, “cause I don’t think I’ll be able to sit through some Christmas play without her, that girl can surely make any shitty piece of theatre good.” 

“Hey, it’s not gonna be shitty,” Ivy said, “they’re doing Billy Elliot.” 

Peter’s eyes widened at that, “Holy shit, New Years can’t come sooner.”

Jason lost it at that, bursting out into laughter, earning himself a death glare from Peter, which only resulted in Ivy joining in. The two of them spent the rest of the evening listening to Peter go on about how Billy Elliot was not only a sensational piece of cinema but also made a smooth transfer to the stage, before Ivy left to meet Nadia after her band rehearsal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always hmu @queennmab to talk about my gay kids, cool cool cool


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy, remember how i said i'd update more often? well, i lied. anyway, next chapter won't be up till late january cause ill have work and stuff, but enjoy these kids being gay

_1:7 what would I be without you?_

**Ivy**

Christmas passed slowly and routinely, as it tended to do, celebrating with her mum and grandma. They don’t do the midnight mass thing, but her grandma insisted that they at least had to do the evening mass on Christmas Eve. They didn’t have many traditions besides that and her grandma spending Christmas Eve with them, so the three of them could cook together in the morning. It suited Ivy just fine, the three of them going to church together, cooking together, celebrating together, it was all she’d ever known.

Still, she was excited for the others to join her. They were coming on the 28th, so Ivy just had to try and distract herself till then, which involved figuring out ways to calm her nerves. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to have friends over, at her house, for more than one night. It’d be the first time they had gotten together outside of school, and hanging out with her friends in a different environment worried her. How could it not? What if it was all different? What if they needed school to make them connect? What if they spent the entire time just sitting in her room with nothing to talk about?

The 28th arrived and Ivy would be lying if she said she had slept well the night before. Running off nothing but nervous energy and excitement, her and her mum spent the morning sorting out the house and setting up bedding, as she pretended not to count down the hours till two o’clock, the time Nadia said her and Jason were going to arrive.

***

“You guys made it.” Ivy shouts, running down the path to greet her friends as they piled out of their car, bags in tow.

“What, did you think we just weren’t gonna show up?” Nadia joked, hugging Ivy.

“I did wonder,” Ivy whispered into Nadia’s shoulder, “so I’m glad you showed up.” The two girls broke apart and Ivy greeted the other McConnell sibling.

“When’s Peter getting here?” Nadia asked as they made their way up to the house.

“Not till later,” both Jason and Ivy responded at the same time.

“Something to do with his dad, and not being able to get away,” Jason explained, “he didn’t seem all that keen to talk about it though.”

Ivy nodded, “well, I’m sure he won’t be too far off; besides we’ve got heaps of time.”

The three had arrived in Ivy’s room, Nadia and Jason looking around. Ivy’s room wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either, it suited Ivy just fine. Her various posters and playbills riddled the walls, making the room her very own history of theatre museum. Nadia spent ages looking at them, asking Ivy what ones she’d seen, telling her the ones she had gone to, talking about their favourites, the ones that deserved more recognition, or the ones that had wrongfully gotten too much recognition. Jason was busy texting someone, probably Peter, occasionally commenting on something, but mainly focusing on his phone. The three spent an hour like that, talking about nothing, but also everything. It was nice, until Jason started getting agitated, constantly checking his phone and pacing the room.

“Dammit Jason,” Nadia said the fourth time Jason had gotten up to pace, “just sit down, he’ll come.”

Jason sat back down, and Ivy could see the worry on his face. She understood, remembering back to the nervous energy she was harbouring when the other two were on their way, unsure whether they would arrive in time.

“He just hasn’t responded in like,” Jason checked his phone, “thirty minutes. I just want to know where he is.”

“You’re starting to sound desperate brother,” Nadia joked, the trademark smirk appearing on her face.

“Yeah…” Jason focusing back on his silent phone.

“I’ll go and see if my mum has heard anything from Mrs Simmonds,” Ivy said, recognising Jason’s concern, and hoping that would subdue the worry a little.

It seemed to work. Ivy noticing the frown disappear off his face, and the worry in his eyes decrease slightly, as she made her way out of her room, calling out to her mother as she went.

 

**Nadia**

She could see Jason fiddling with his phone, rotating it in his hand, pausing, checking it, and then rotating it again, as if that simple action would magically make the messages he wanted to appear.

Nadia reached for Jason’s phone, choosing to ignore his protests as she grabbed it out of his hand.

“Just chill, dude,” Nadia pocketed the phone, “it’s getting annoying watching you freak out so much.”

“Oh, like you can talk,” Jason scoffed, “I wasn’t the one freaking out about what to pack, what present to get for Ivy, even though nobody said we’re doing presents, and you didn’t get one for me, might I add.”

“Shut up,” Nadia ducked her head, not wanting her brother to see the obvious blush that was forming on her cheeks, “you said you didn’t want a present anyway, so I don’t know what you’re complaining about.”

“Nah, I don’t care, I’m just messing.” Jason smiled up at her, “it’s kinda funny though, what if she likes it, but is mad because we never said we were doing presents, so she feels guilty for not getting you one?”

Nadia stared at her brother, his smug face taunting her – man, how she hated that smug face. Wanting nothing more than to wipe the smugness off his face she grabbed the nearest object she could and threw it up.

“Hey!” Jason yelled, picking up the pillow that had hit him square in the face, “have some respect, what would your parents say?” “Nothing, because they wouldn’t be paying attention,” she bit back, catching the pillow from Jason and placing it back on Ivy’s bed.

“True.”

It’s at that moment that Ivy returned, a small smile on her face. Nadia recognised the smile, it’s the soft one that Nadia has come associate with comfort and safety. The one that reassures her (and she supposes everyone else) that everything is going to be ok.

Jason turned to Ivy as soon as she entered the room. Ivy no doubt feeling the intense stares of both McConnell twins. Though Nadia assumes those stares are for two very different reasons.

“Well, where is he?” Jason demanded, deciding that the amount of time Ivy had taken to walk into her room was too long to wait.

“Patience, Jason,” Ivy said, sitting down by Nadia, but turning her attention to Jason, “he’s like thirty minutes away.”

Jason sighed, relaxing back into Ivy’s desk chair, and Nadia can’t help but smile. Jason had spent the past few days of Christmas break talking to Peter in some form or another. It was mainly over text, but she’d caught them skyping on Christmas Eve, but left quickly after wishing Peter a good Christmas, knowing better than to intrude. In another universe, she would have minded Jason’s attention and time being elsewhere when it was supposed to be on the family, but she didn’t. Her attention was also elsewhere, and even though it was harder for Ivy and her to spend every hour of the day talking because Ivy’s internet was in a constant state of disarray, they still spent every moment they could chatting. And of course, they had their group chat, and the one with Matt and Lucas in it too, the combined activity of them meant that Nadia’s battery was being drained at an exponential rate.

Nadia was pulled into Jason and Ivy’s conversation as Jason was declaring the death sentence he apparently was putting on Peter’s head.

“I mean, it’s inconsiderate, right?” Jason was going on, “to not call or message and say he was gonna be late.”

“He did say they would be late.” Ivy pointed out to him.

“Yeah, but, then he was extra late,” Jason counteracted, “he should have said he’d be even later.”

Nadia exchanged a glance with Ivy, both struggling to contain their laughter.

“Jason, his phone died,” Nadia said, “he couldn’t contact you, ok.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure he’s going to be very apologetic about it,” Ivy stated, “so, maybe don’t kill him.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Jason conceded defeat and shrunk down into the chair, his arms crossed, threatening to slide out of it.

“Should we bake something whilst we wait?” Ivy suggested as she jumped off the bed, “that way when Peter does get here it’ll be ready.”

Nadia and Jason both agreed, and the three of them head into the kitchen, Ivy explaining to them the type of brownies they’re going to make, and what each of them will be responsible for making.

 

**Jason**

Peter finally arrived, he came rushing through the door, a mess of bags and apologies. It would have been comical, Jason thinks, if he hadn’t been so relieved to see him. “Hey,” Peter said looking at Jason,

“Sorry I’m late, stuff sorta happened, and then my phone died, and I didn’t know how to get in contact, and just yeah sorry if you guys were worried. I know your mum spoke to mine, but I didn’t know what she told her or anything.” Peter directs the last part at Ivy but turns quickly back to Jason, who doesn’t even bother to hide the massive grin from his face. Screw the fact that Nadia will probably tease him mercilessly about, he’s happy Peter is here, it’d been four days and talking over text or skype just wasn’t the same. And he had to admit he was a little about Peter, but that was something to discuss later, in the privacy of their own little world.

Jason told him as much, “I’m happy you’re here.”

“Same,” Peter responded, and Jason’s pretty certain his smile envied his own, “it’s gonna be fun.”

The two smiled at each other for what felt like an eternity, but he can’t seem to drag his eyes away from the other boy.

“We made brownies,” Ivy said, finally breaking the boys’ gazes, “you can put your stuff in the study if you want. You and Jason are sleeping there, if that’s ok?”

“Fine with me.” Peter nodded, picking up his bag. “Wanna show me the way?”

“Ahhh, sure.” Jason answered, instantly stepping into action and guiding Peter into the study.

The study is a decent size, most likely meant as a third bedroom, and the desk and chair have been pushed against a wall making room for two small camper mattresses. One had been made, the other still clear with sheets folded at the end.

“I umm, already claimed one,” Jason indicated to where his bag sat on the mattress closest to the door, “but if you want to swap I don’t mind, I sort of just went off our dorm beds. And I know you like being near the window.”

“Yeah, I do,” Peter smiled, “thanks.”

Jason shrugged. It wasn’t a problem for him, it would never be a problem for him. Jason watches as Peter puts his bag down and starts to unpack, taking out his charger and plugging his phone in to the socket by the head of his mattress bed. Jason sits down on his own, feeling the carpeted floor underneath the thin mattress. Watching as Peter flicks through his phone, most likely catching up on the story Lucas was telling in the chat about his drunk gran. This would be the right time to ask, to check in on him.

“Wow, you were really worried, Jace,” Peter said, looking over at him.

“Huh?”

Peter nodded to his phone, displaying the texts from Jason had sent.

“What? No, I wasn’t.” Jason knows he’s lying, he’s embarrassed thinking about the texts he sent to Peter, only to have gotten none back.

“Sure you weren’t,” Peter said with a smirk, “you just happen to accidently send me ten texts in forty minutes asking where I was.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m touched,” Peter placed a hand over his heart, and Jason couldn’t help but glare at him, “I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“I will literally kill you.”

“Oh, literally, you’re gonna literally kill me?”

“Yeah, literally killing someone is a lot more satisfying than metaphorically killing someone. Did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t, enlighten me.” Jason could tell that Peter was trying to hold in a laugh by the slight twitching of his lips. And Jason admits he was struggling himself.

“You want me to enlighten you?” Jason questioned, cocking his head, “cause that would actually involve metaphorically killing you, and then literally killing you.”

“For comparison?” Peter said, “of course, makes perfect sense.”

“Right, and I just don’t think you could handle both,” He teased, “you know, it’d be too much for your skinny body and small brain to handle.”

“My skinny body, and small brain?” Peter gasped, “you sure know how to flatter a guy.”

“Yeah, well, it’s both a blessing and curse, being this charming.”

Peter no longer managed to hold in his laughter, letting it out in one miraculous rush, Jason following close behind.

The girls join them a little later, after their laughter had subsided and Peter had sorted his bedding out.

They decide to spend the rest of the evening watching movies, exchanging presents, playing games and eating brownies. But really, they just end up bickering over what movies to watch, accusing each other of cheating at monopoly, and eating too many brownies.

It turned out that Ivy had gotten Nadia a present, earning Jason a smug look from Nadia.

Ivy had gotten her a copy of the Hairspray Cast Recording, something which Jason knew Nadia had once owned but lost years ago and had never bothered to replace it. Nadia had gotten Ivy a signed Wicked poster from when she had gone with their mother to see it the previous winter break. Both girls loved their presents, and seeing the two so thankful for them made Jason regret not getting Peter anything a little. But, they had both agreed they weren’t going to buy each other gifts, and Peter didn’t seem too bothered by it, choosing to enjoy the girls’ happiness instead.

It wasn't until later, after they were all movied out and had exchanged monopoly for pictionary hours previously, and they're lying in the study, trying to get comfortable on their camping mattresses that Jason asked him.

“How was your dad’s?” It was barely a whisper, but Jason knew he heard it.

“Could have been worse, could have been better.” Came Peter’s reply.

“Pete.”

Silence. Jason’s never been a fan of silence, it’s always been a precursor for trouble.

“Pete,” He tried again, “you can talk to me.”

“Just leave it, ok.” Peter voice small and sleepy, “it’s fine.”

“Ok, if you’re sure.”

“Jesus, fuck, yes.” Peter snapped, “Just go to sleep, Jason."

So, Jason did. His mind tossing and turning as much as his body in the effort to get comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cool, hmu @queennmab as usual, whatever
> 
> also i made a playlist for this whilst i was procrastinating, its gay and soft and good, listen [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/libbyrbevis/playlist/4Ixt4LTXOaTMZGV0NoHAKc) if u want (ill probs be adding songs as i go)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for remy's birthday, ily kid

_1:8 at home_

**Peter**

Previous winter breaks often tended to slip by for Peter, after his eight birthday Christmas just didn’t seem to be worth much anymore. He still vividly recalls the long silences that Christmas, and his mother crying into her napkin when she thought no one would notice, and the slightly bitter taste the trifle had that day. Christmas with just his mother and grandma no longer seemed worth it, not compared to the big Christmases he had been used to, surrounded by aunts and uncles and cousins. So, winter break wasn’t so much a time for festive holidays but more a pause from school, and sure he always enjoyed getting to spend time with his mum, and baking Christmas cookies together was still one of his favourite things, but the holiday was never the same as it was before. Before his dad left, and his mum took all her worry out on him, that at times it felt like he would suffocate in it.

Peter had decided at the age of ten, five minutes into staying with his father for the first time, that his parents were in a competition to see who could drown him in themselves first. They both had very different techniques. His mother preferring to smother him with constant conversation, constantly reassuring him she was there yet never actually being there. His father, on the other hand, wrapped the rooms in silence that went on for days, a constant reminder that him and his son would never have anything of value to talk about, that they had nothing in common.

So, spending half of the winter break at Ivy’s was nothing but a great relief. It passed in a blur of late night laughter, movie marathons, too many brownies and warmth, each day somehow better than the one before. Billy Elliot blows Peter’s mind, as he knew it would. After years of listing to the cast album and watching the film it didn’t disappoint. Jason could tease him about crying at the end all he wanted, it was a good musical and he was going to cry about it if he wanted, besides if Jason thought that Peter didn’t notice the silent tears that rolled down his face then he had another thing coming.

“We should build a fort!” Nadia proclaimed on New Year’s Eve, her face lit up with excitement.

“Yes!” Ivy’s face quickly mimicking Nadia’s, “We have a whole bunch of spare blankets in the closet, and I can ask my mum if we can set up in the lounge room.”

“I’m keen if it means we can watch Star Wars,” Jason said, “Pete’s never seen them.”

Ivy looked at Peter, “You haven’t?”

Peter shrugged nonchalantly, not sure what the fuss was about.

“Ok, then sure, why not.”

Peter felt Jason nudge him, and looked up to see a grin planted on the boy’s face, “you’re gonna love them.”

So, they spent New Year’s Eve in their blanket fort, surrounded by each other, entranced by the thrill of space adventure and the never-ending possibility of the stars. The warmth seemed to seep into Peter’s skin, happiness spread throughout his body, and it was in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi when Jason and Nadia were taking part in a lightsabre fight, making fake noises as they went, that Peter felt an overwhelming sense of belonging. He didn’t once feel like he was drowning, like there was too much noise or not enough, not once did he feel like he was bound to trip up and say the wrong thing, and even if he did it wasn’t as if anyone was going to mind. For once Peter didn’t feel winter break slip by him, instead it took him in, made him feel loved and wanted and happy.

***

School started again, as it always does, and Peter easily fell back into a steady rhythm of classes, studying, and final rehearsals. He’d gotten use to St Cecilia’s, to the morning prayer, the weekly mass, the dusty and cramped halls of the junior boarding house, rushing to complete hours’ worth of homework on Sunday nights. It didn’t entirely feel like home, the food was never quite as good as his mums, and he wished he brought an extra blanket from home during the cold nights, but it was getting there. It felt like home when a whole group of them were gathered in Lucas and Matt’s room, crowded around their x-box, yelling at the screen and laughing at each other. Or the times the four of them checked each other’s essays, or exchanged homework, all dividing up the work to cover what they were best at. It also felt like home when him and Jason were just talking late into the night, or watching some movie on Jason’s laptop, time seeming to fade away from them. So, it didn’t always feel like home, but then sometimes it felt better than home.

“Fuck baseball!” Jason said, slamming the door behind him as his bag gets thrown across the room.

“I thought you quit last semester,” Peter replied, not bothering to look up from his history book.

“Yeah, but the coach keeps cornering me about joining the team again.” Jason slumped down onto his bed, and Peter swore he can felt the room shake.

“And there’s only so many times I can say no without giving him a solid excuse.”

“Isn’t not enjoying it enough?” Peter asked, looking up from his book.

“If only” Jason scoffed, running his hands through his hair, “he doesn't care about that, but he only wants me back on the team ‘cause they’re short, because everyone who tried out is now playing other sports or doing other things.”

“Damn, that sucks.” Peter said, unsure what else to offer his friend in way of advice.

“What do I do?” Jason asked, looking up at Peter with pleading eyes.

“Just tell him you signed up for something else and can’t do it.” Peter offered.

“Like what?”

“You could help at with the show,” Peter said, and idea starting to take shape in his head, “Sister Chantelle was asking around for people to help out with backstage and lighting and stuff, you could do it.”

Jason sighed, “I don’t know Pete, it’s not really my thing.”

“No, I know,” Peter said, “but it’d be for like two weeks’ tops, just tech and then the show itself, and we’d be able to hang out more, and I think Lucas was gonna help out with the lights too. So, you’d get out of baseball, and get to hang out with all of us, how is that not a win, win situation?”

“Ahh, ok, you’re right,” Jason admitted with a smile, “and it could be fun I suppose.”

“Wrong,” Peter said, going to sit down next to Jason and throwing his arm around the other shoulder, a relaxed grin spreading across his face, “it _will_ be fun.”

 

**Jason**

Peter was right, it was fun. He had arrived at rehearsals the following week, for what Peter and everyone else called tech. Jason thought he had spent enough hours listening to Nadia talk about theatre and Broadway to know what tech was about, but Nadia telling him about it and him experiencing it for real were two vastly different things. And he only had to learn to operate the spotlight and know when to and who to track. Despite it being hectic and loud and having to spend most the time sitting around waiting, Jason was surprised that he found it fun. He enjoyed getting to watch the show, and the constant stopping and starting, and knowing what light cues there were, and how the managed set changes, and he also enjoyed getting to light the actors on stage, having to remember his queues, and pay attention to the specific actor. It was rewarding without it being too draining or difficult. It did also have the upside of him being able to spend more time with Peter and everyone else. Lucas and him grew closer, both having enough spare time to talk about random things, both realising the other has a thing for DC comics too, and as neither of them shared the enthusiasm that their other friends did for theatre, the two spent a lot of time talking about the most recent comics they’d read.

“Hey Jason,” Mary Dewhurst came up to him after their final rehearsal as he was rolling up an electrical rope for Lucas, “are you coming to the cast party after closing night?”

“Oh, hey,” Jason responded, “I don’t know, I didn’t know it was a thing.”

“Well, it is, and I think you should come.” Mary continued, sounding incredibly enthusiastic about, “I mean, it’s gonna be really fun, at least that’s what Charlotte who’s in ninth grade was saying. She said it’s always in the senior’s common room, because it’s the biggest and they’re the seniors so of course they get the first choice as to where it should be, although apparently, some of the seniors who aren’t in the cast don’t like it, because it means they can’t hang out there, but it’s not as if we’d kick them out, they’re the seniors they can do what they want. But it always finishes up really late, and someone tends to makes a cake, and there’s lots of food and drink and good music. Anyway, you should totally come.”

“Ummm, yeah, ahhh” Jason stuttered, trying to comprehend everything Mary had just said, “that sounds great.” Jason said, trying to force a smile.

Being cornered by a girl he barely knew wasn’t his favourite thing in the world, especially not when he could see Peter looking at him from the other side of the theatre, a confused look on his face.

Jason smiled at Peter before looking back to Mary, “I’ll see if Peter and the others are going and get back to you, ok?”

“Oh, I’m sure they will be,” Mary said, a wide grin on her face.

“Right, yeah, well, I’ll see you later then.” Jason said, wanting to put an end to the conversation.

“Oh, ok sure,” Mary said, the grin dropping from her face, “See you around.”

Jason headed towards Peter, seeing that Nadia had joined him, not looking back at Mary.

“What did Mary want?” Nadia asked as Jason came up to them.

“Oh, she just wanted to see if I was going to the cast party.” Jason looked at Peter when he said that, unable to read the expression on his best friend’s face. “But I said I’d see if you guys were going. So, are you?”

Nadia and Peter exchanged looks, “probably yeah,” Nadia said, “I mean, it’s sort of just the thing yaknow. I know Ivy and Matt both seemed pretty keen to go.”

“Oh yeah, they were,” Peter chimed in, “Matt was talking about in math class yesterday.”

He turned to Jason, fixing him with a gaze, that if it was anyone else Jason would squirmed under. “We should definitely go.”

***

Production week whirls past Jason, and he has to do the least amount of work out of all of them, he can’t even begin to imagine how chaotic it is for Peter and the others. They barely have time to just hang out together, both struggling to keep up with homework, various tests and assignments, and rehearsals and then the actual show itself. The show was brilliant, the seniors leading the cast exceptionally, it was funny, and happy, and sad at times, as well as being a bit out there. And Jason only messed up a few times the first night, before finally perfecting it.

And then it was closing night, and everything was a rush of speeches and tears, and flower giving, and adrenaline. And Jason was strangely proud, of the cast, and his friends, and a little bit proud of himself too. He hadn’t expected to enjoy being a part of it, and he certainly hadn’t expected that he’d be able to do it. So, the curtain closed for the final time, and the entire cast headed to the senior common room in a flurry of shouts, laughter and adrenaline. Jason stayed behind with Lucas and Thomas, the 10th grader who was doing lighting and Lucas called ‘a true genius’, as well as the stage crew, to finish packing up the stuff they could that night, with the rest of the props and set being to be taken away in the next day or two.

Jason hadn’t known what exactly to expect from the cast party, that much he knew, and he certainly wasn’t ready for what he experienced. It was a strange combination between the senior students partying like wild, and the younger students milling about in small groups, eyeing off the older students, unsure whether to join them in dancing or not. When Jason finally arrived with Lucas, he spotted Nadia and Ivy immediately, they appeared to be deep in conversation with Kyra and Tanya. Choosing not to interrupt the girls, he made his way further into the party, finally seeing Peter. Jason paused briefly, noticing Peter talking to some boy Jason didn’t know, recognising him only as one of the fairies in the production.

“Hey,” Jason said, finally making his way over to stop beside Peter.

“Oh, hi.” Peter turned to grin up at him. “This is Sam.”

Sam smiled at Jason, “hey, you must be Jason?”

“Umm, yeah.”

“Cool, that’s cool,” Sam nods, “you did a good job with the spotlight this year.”

“Thanks,” Jason responded, not quite sure what to make of Sam.

“I did it last year, it was fun, but then I decided I wanted to be in the play itself, so I auditioned this year.” Sam explained, nodding and smiling the entire time.

“Sam was the one that suggested you do it.” Peter told Jason, flashing Sam a smile, "cause I was saying how you didn't have anything to do after you quit baseball. And then you brought up the whole thing about your coach, and Sister Chantelle needed extra help, and it just sort of worked out."

“Oh, cool,” Jason said, “well, thanks for that, I had fun doing it, and you guys were really good, like the entire show was really awesome.”

“Yeah, the seniors really made it their own this year,” Sam said, a hint of awe in his voice, “they’re really talented, I’m not sure what we’ll do without them.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Peter assured him, “there’s quite a few juniors that could easily play leads, and the ninth and tenth graders are really good too.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Sam conceded, before going into a spill about all the older students that could play leads for the next production.

Jason left Peter and Sam to it, not being able to contribute much to the conversation anyway, and headed over to the drinks table which had been set up on the far side of the common room. Weaving his way through the crowd – there is definitely more people here than just the theatre kids, Jason decided – he manages to reach the drink table, which is stacked with cups and various soft drinks.

Jason grabbed a drink and turned back to the party, taking in the full scene for the first time since he arrived. It appeared as if the cast party was really just a party for the seniors, with the rest of the cast tagging along. The seniors occupied the majority of the dance floor in the middle, a large speaker connected to someone’s phone providing the music, the oldest students dancing together as if they had nothing to lose. The rest of the students were hanging around the edge, taking up residents in the various couches and chairs, some that belonged to the room and some that had been brought in for the occasion. Yet, despite the obvious divide, nobody looked lost or out of place, everybody appeared to belong there, and they all seemed to know it. Jason glanced at Peter where he had left him Sam. Peter, who was vastly different to any of the other friends Jason had, looked to be right at home, his warm smile planted across his face laughing at something Sam said. Jason felt a slight pang in his chest, and he wasn’t sure if he was jealous of Peter and his easy smile, or of Sam for causing it.

“So, how come the seniors get a common room and not us.” A voice next to Jason said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Jason turned to find Lucas who was pouring himself a drink, a scowl on his face.

“I don’t know,” Jason said with a shrug, “because they’re older. Don’t the juniors have one too.”

“Hmmm, still seems unfair.”

“Our time will come, Lucas,” Jason said with smirk, placing a hand on Lucas’ shoulder, “our time will come.”

“Well, I want it to come quicker.” 

Jason rolls his eyes at that, and leads Lucas away from the drinks table, “let’s go find Matt, I haven’t seen him yet.”

“Yeah, neither have I.” Lucas admits, happily following Jason back into the throng of the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, i think there'll be 1-2 more chapters for 7th grade, hopefully they'll be out sometime before i start uni in march, but im never very good with promises, sooo...


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo, sorry for the 2 month break, i have no excuses tbh, but it's here and i think its half decent

_1:9 gathered here today_

**Nadia**

The end of the year crept up on all of them, with production being over, end of year exams were right around the corner, teachers starting to pile on homework and extra study in every class. Before she knew it, Nadia was head first in her study, unable to see an end in sight, no matter how hard she looked. It also seemed, that no matter how hard she studied nothing seemed to make sense, with everything going in one ear and out the other.

She echoed this sentiment to Ivy one evening, two days before their geography exam. The two were studying in their room, books scattered everywhere and a vague frantic energy circling the room.

“I can’t do this,” Nadia exclaimed, kicking her chair away from her desk.

Ivy turned around at her own desk, facing Nadia, a look of worry starting to creep across her face, “I’m sure you can.”

“No, Ivy, you don’t get it,” Nadia said, “I can’t concentrate on mountain formations and tectonic plates anymore. Like, nothing is sticking in here.” Nadia tapped the side of her head before flopping further down in her chair, certain there was a heavy scowl on her face, one she didn’t even bother to hide.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ivy said, coming over to kneel in front of her, “it’ll be ok, yeah. We’ve still got all of tomorrow to study, and we’ve been going at it for hours, we’re probably way over due for a break.”

“Taking a break won’t matter,” Nadia mumbled, “I’m still not gonna get it.”

Ivy smiled at her, a soft smile, which Nadia had quickly learnt to associate with pity, but also with sympathy.

“Why don’t we watch something,” Ivy suggested, “We could watch The Sound of Music, if you wanted.”

“I guess, but we watched it last week.”

“So, we can watch it again,” Ivy said, “I don’t mind.”

Nadia wasn’t fully convinced, she knew Ivy liked musicals as much as Nadia, but watching The Sound of Music for the third time in two weeks is asking a lot of a person. However, if she said she didn’t mind, Nadia was hardly going to push the matter. They had both gotten accustomed to each other, their various perks, hobbies, and routines. Nadia had learnt in the second week of living together that Ivy hummed to herself whilst she concentrated, whether that was on her homework, drawing, or learning lines. She also knew that Ivy had learnt to fall asleep with the soft light that Nadia’s nightlight emitted, she was now always the first one to turn it on when they got ready to go to bed. The two girls had learnt to work together and around each other, and they worked well.

So, the two of them settled on Nadia’s bed, and put on the film. Nadia instantly feeling calmer, with the steadying rhythm of Ivy’s breathing and the soft voice of Julia Andrews coming from her computer. Nadia felt Ivy begin to drift off beside her, her breathing evening out and her head drooping onto Nadia’s shoulders. Nadia smiled, and turned down the volume, before falling asleep to the soft chorus of Edelweiss.

****

******Ivy** ** **

Despite the amount of times her and Nadia had fallen asleep curled up together after watching a movie, she was still always slightly surprised by it. As if waking up to Nadia was the most surreal experience, and no matter how many times it happened it would still be a shock to her system. She extracted herself out from Nadia’s arm, which had been thrown across her in the night, being careful not wake her. Deciding to shower, Ivy grabbed her towel, clothes and toiletries before making her way down the hall to the girl’s bathrooms.

As she felt the water hit her skin, she tried not to think about the girl still sleeping on her bed, and all the stress that came with her. It’s not as if she didn’t know how hard Nadia found exams, or really school in general, because she did, she’d figured out as much through living with her for the whole year. It was more that she never felt capable of fully helping Nadia, of being able to reassure her. School, for her, had always been relatively easy, so far at least, and sure there were subjects she found more difficult than others (she didn’t understand biology at all), but she managed well enough. And Nadia was her closest friend, they’d been lucky to hit it off so well as roommates, she knew that Lucas and Matt fought from time to time, and that Mary and Tamara were constantly butting heads – she could hear them every evening through the wall. She didn’t want to screw their friendship up, but she worried she would by not being able to help her whenever she stressed out.

“It’s not your sole responsibility.” She muttered to herself, scrubbing hard at her skin with a cloth, watching as it went red underneath her touch. Maybe she should talk to Jason, he grew up with after all, he’d be able to offer some advice.

She finishes up in the shower, just as her skin was starting to wrinkle, changes and makes her way back to the dorm. Nadia’s sitting up against the headboards of her bed when Ivy gets back, frowning at her phone.

“Good morning,” Ivy says, hanging up her towel on the door of her closet, “sleep well?”

“Yeah, fine,” Nadia responds, the sleep still heavy in her voice, “you?”

“I slept wonderfully, thank you for asking.”

“That’s good.” Nadia says, “Peter messaged the chat, he asked if we all wanted to study together, today.”

“The four of us?” Ivy confirms, not certain which chat Peter had messaged.

Nadia nodded, “Yeah, in the library, but I said we can meet for breakfast and go after. Does that suit you?”

“Yeah,” Ivy shrugged, sitting down on her bed, “that’s all good with me.”

“Guess I should get changed then,” Nadia said, kicking the sheets of her so they bundled up at the foot of the bed.

“Probably,” Ivy nodded, “wanna meet me down at breakfast? I’ll save you a bagel.”

Nadia smiled, “sure, sounds good. I won’t be too long.”

The dining hall was already relatively packed by the time Ivy arrived, despite it being study break and them not having classes breakfast was always between 7:30 and 8:15, and unless you were in the good graces of the kitchen staff you either got to breakfast on time or missed out entirely. Spotting Peter and Jason towards the back of the hall, Ivy filled her plate (making sure to grab an extra bagel) and headed over to them.

“Hey,” Ivy said sitting down next to Jason.

“Hey, Ivy.” Jason responded, as Peter smiles at her through a mouthful of eggs.

“Nadia is on her way,” Ivy explained, digging into her muesli, “you guys up for a good study session today.”

“Nooo,” Peter groans, “I told Jason that I was more than happy to just study in our room, but he says, and I quote it’s- “

“– more beneficial if you study with others, so they can motivate you.” Peter and Jason finished together.

“Which I don’t think is true,” Peter argued, “I mean, don’t they just distract you?”

“No, Pete,” Jason contradicted, “they don’t if you don’t let them, and all agree to work productively.” It was obviously a conversation they’d had plenty of times, judging by the eye roll Peter was giving causing Jason to yell a “don’t roll your eyes at me!”

Nadia joined them not long after, and they finished their breakfast soon after, wanting to get to the library before the rush and all the tables got taken.

***

“You need to talk to Nadia,” Ivy whispered to Jason as she started to pack her books into her bag.

Nadia and Peter had gone off to lunch already, the two of them too impatient to wait for the others to pack up. Spending the entire morning studying wasn’t the easiest thing for the two of them, a point they had made very clear since 10:30 when they had first started complaining about being hungry and wanting lunch.

“You want me to talk to Nadia?” Jason asked, pausing from packing his books away, “about what?”

“She’s stressing out, and I don’t know how to deal with it.”

“And what? You think I do?” Jason questioned, standing up, his bag swinging from his shoulder.

Ivy stood up and faced him, thankful that she didn’t have to look up to look him in the eye. “I don’t know, you’re her brother, surely you’ve known how to deal with her stressing out before.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m good at it.”

“So, I can’t do all the work.” Ivy snapped.

“Look, Ivy,” Jason sighed, “I get that you’re worried about her, but you don’t need to let it consume you. It’s exams, everyone worries, just keep doing what you’re doing. She’ll be fine.”

Giving Ivy a slight smile Jason headed out of the library. Ivy following behind.

“Are you sure she’ll be fine?” Ivy asked as she came to pace next to him, doubting that Nadia would, in fact be fine.

“Yeah Ivy, once exams are over she’ll stop stressing.”

She followed Jason to lunch, still uncertain about what he’d said. And a little annoyed that he didn’t offer more, or really any advice.

“Hey guys,” Matt said once they’d arrived at their lunch table, “how’d the study go so far.”

Ivy shrugged and sat down next to Nadia, letting Jason talk to Matt instead, not having much interest in dealing with him today.

“How’s it going?” Ivy nudged Nadia gently, “have the different tectonic plate boundaries memorised yet?”

Nadia shrugged as she picked at her sandwich, “Yeah, but I don’t the fault lines down yet.”

“That’s ok, you’ll get there.” Ivy encouraged, “how are you feeling though?”

“Better once exams are over.”

“I think that goes for all of us.”

Nadia looked up at Ivy then, a curios look in her eyes that Ivy couldn’t quite place. She looked at Ivy a second longer before smiling and turning back to her sandwich.

“I’m better for you being here too.” Nadia said, still looking at her sandwich.

“Naww, I’m better for being here with you too, Nadia.” Ivy responded, leaning into the other girl’s side, a soft warmth spreading over her body. “Now, let’s finish eating and then we can go back and finally finish studying for this stupid exam.”

****

******Jason** ** **

“Have you seen my other school shirt?” Jason asked Peter, unable to find it from rifling through is closet.

“Are you serious?” Peter’s voice came from his bed. Jason smiled at the exasperation he could hear in it. “Like, are you actually seriously?”

“What?” Jason asked, “my other one is super dirty, I don’t think I can wear it to mass.”

Peter’s bed creaked as Jason heard him cross the room, “move over, I’ll find it,” shoving Jason out of the way and looking through his closet.

“I could have found it.” Jason grumbled, sitting at the foot of his bed watching as Peter tried to find his school shirt in the mess that was his closet.

“Yeah, in 30 minutes’ time and we’d end up late for mass.” Peter poked his head out to respond. “It’s better if I just look for it.”

Jason nodded, lying back on his bed, his feet dangling off the end as Peter continued to search in his closet.

He couldn’t quite believe they were attending their final mass for the year, and that tomorrow they would all be leaving for the summer. That he wouldn’t see Peter for 2 months, nor Ivy or even Lucas and Matt, and that he’d actually miss all of them. It was going to be strange, not seeing them every day, not sharing a room with Peter, not being able to go across the hall and play video games with Lucas, not getting to hang out with Ivy and watch Star Trek every other Friday night.

“Here.” Jason heard, a second before a shirt was flung at his face. “We gotta be down at the church in five minutes, so can you hurry up and get changed.”

Jason grabbed the shirt from where it had fallen on his face, and sat up with a groan. He pulled his shirt on, and grabbed his shoes out from under his bed, pulling them on as well.

“I kinda can’t believe schools over,” Peter said, standing by the door, “like, there was a part of me that never expected it to arrive.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asked, standing up and heading over to Peter.

Peter shrugged, “I don’t know. Like I was so terrified of coming here I never thought I’d actually make it through the year.”

The two boys made their way out into the hall, Jason closing the door behind them.

“What, you thought you would drop out or something?”

“Maybe.” Peter hesitated, shaking his head, “it’s silly, but I guess I never expected to fit in here, and I think there’s a part of me that is still waiting for everyone to point at me and tell me I don’t belong.”

“Nobody’s gonna do that.”

“I know that, I said it was silly and stupid, but I still sometimes think it.”

They finally reached the main court yard, joining the throng of students also rushing to make it to Church on time.

“I mean, it is kinda silly,” Jason responded, “but I sort of get it.”

“Really?” Peter’s scepticism heavy in his voice.

“Yeah, I think.” Jason nodded, not adding anymore. He did get it, what Peter felt, except he imagined Peter’s reasons varied greatly from his own. Peter didn’t push for an explanation, simply nodding, as the two of them became engulfed in a comfortable silence. Jason was grateful for that, for Peter realising that Jason understood where he was coming from, without forcing him to explain why.

The morning sun was streaking through St Cecilia’s chapel when they arrived, the reflection of the stain glass window marking a multi-coloured path right up the middle of the church. Peter and Jason didn’t get to walk up the coloured path, diverting off to the left when they entered to sit with the rest of the seventh graders in the back pews.

“Hey, nice of you guys to join us.” Nadia whispered, leaning across Ivy to do so.

“Blame Jason, he couldn’t find his shirt.”

“Of course, he couldn’t.” Nadia said, looking at Jason and rolling her eyes.

“Hey!” Jason protested, despite the smile that was unwilling to budge from his face.

“Oh!” Ivy spoke up, “I managed to convince Mrs Harthway to let me use the kitchens, so if everyone is still keen for this afternoon I can make a cake.”

“For the picnic?”

“Yes Peter, for the picnic.”

“Right, just checking.”

“Shhhh,” a voice said from further down the pew, Jason assumed it was Matt’s, as the opening liturgical song started and the procession made their way up the aisle.

Half way through mass he looked down the pew at his friends, Nadia singing loudly to the hymn, her and Ivy harmonising and giggling to each other as they do so, Matt with his serious expression planted on his face. Lucas who was very obviously not singing as part of his yearlong protest in support of those who can’t sing (Tanya likely taking part in the silent rebellion from the pew in front of them). The sunlight flickering off Peter’s hair as he absentmindedly sang along, his mind most likely also elsewhere. Peter glanced at him, mouthing at him to sing, and so Jason did.

Letting himself be moved along in the routine and familiarity of mass, Jason allowed himself a small amount of pride in completing his first yeah at St Cecilia’s, and for enjoying most of it. And, if he was being honest, it was probably due to the people he was sharing an uncomfortable wooden pew with, singing an old Church hymn and basking in the glow of the mid-morning sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the final chapter of this particular fic. But i've got some rough ideas/drafts for grade 8, and i hope to start it soon, although knowing me thats no guarantee that a chapter for it will be up anytime soon. 
> 
> also this chapter wasn't edited, i will probably go through and edit the entire story in a week or so. apologies for any mistakes and any future changes. 
> 
> and as always, if u enjoyed this fic please comment, i have no clue what im doing and comments help me know if im on the right track. ok bye xxx


End file.
